In Her Eyes
by Cattie V
Summary: Marian is in Heaven looking down on Earth watching Robin and the goings on in England. A reworking of season 3 from the point of view of the deceased Marian.
1. Heaven

_Disclaimer: I do not own Robin Hood or its characters. They are the property of the BBC. _

_Author's Note: So while I was watching season 3, I kept wondering what Marian would have thought of all the events that occurred. This is basically how I imagine her reacting to everything._ _Please note that there are some chapters that don't having anything to do with any of the episodes. They are just Marian's thoughts on certain subjects._

Heaven. The most beautiful place in existence. You cannot imagine it nor can I describe it to you for no words could ever do it justice. The human mind is too simple to understand the grand majesty and the complexity of the glorious world.

My first sensation on waking in this wonderful utopia was peace. A peace I had never known in life, a peace I never even dreamed could possibly exist. Here I was happy, so happy that I did not wish for Earth. Earth was already no more then barely a memory.

I forgot my troubles. They were over. I would never shed another tear, instead I would laugh and shout for joy forever. For that is one of the best things about Heaven. It is forever. It never ends. There is no sickness, no death, no sorrow. It is a place where everyone is healthy, happy, and in constant peace, forever.

I heard someone shout my name. "Marian!" A voice. I knew that voice. I turned and there they were. My father and my mother, the latter had had known only in my dreams. I cried out in joy to see them and before I knew it we where in each other's embrace. We laughed, hugged, and kissed. We were together. Forever.

As we wandered the great realm, I saw many more people that I had known in life. There was Will Scarlet's father and over there was Alan's brother. I saw many more that I did not know, but I needed no introduction. For as soon as I laid eyes on them I instantly knew their names and they mine.

Suddenly I felt a presence. A great, beautiful presence. I turned and what I saw made me fall down on my face in great fear and reverence. It was Him. God himself. He didn't say anything. Instead, he knelt and lifted me up into the best hug I have ever received or ever will.

"My daughter." I cried with joy. God, my God. How I loved him! More than anything or anyone, more than my father and mother, even more than Robin.

Robin. How I wished he could be here with me! I didn't long for earth, but instead just wished that the love of my life could me here to spend eternity with me.

"Soon, my child." said God. His voice is indescribable. Suffice it to say that it is the most beautiful anyone could ever hear. "He will be with you soon."

Heaven. The perfect place. I was here and there was no going back, even if I had wanted to, which I most certainly didn't.

_Author's Note: I know it's short, but I want you to get a feel of what Marian was experiencing in Heaven before we actual get to the episodes. So, what do think? I wrote it in first person because it __made it feel more real for me that way. So review please!_


	2. TE Broken Hearts & Harsh Words

_Author's Note: Each episode will be several chapters long. This will allow for more frequent updating and will also make the chapters shorted and easier to read. So without further ado, I give you the first part of Total Eclipse. Enjoy!_

Time does not pass the same in Heaven as it does on Earth. A year could have passed on Earth, while in Heaven it would only be a few weeks, and when I looked down on Earth for the first time, I was shocked to learn that several months had passed since my death.

At first all I could see were trees and I soon realized that we were in a forest. Then I spotted movement, a figure running through the underbrush. With a jolt I recognized him. It was Robin, my Robin. I wanted to call out to him, but then I remembered that he wouldn't be able to hear me.

I soon realized that something was wrong. I studied him closely, and it was the pang of heart that I saw it. His eyes. Before they had always shone with love for me and for our country. They were often sadden and outraged by the injustice our people had suffered,but now...now they shone with outright rage and hatred. One look at those eyes and I knew what he was going to do. "Don't, Robin." I whispered. "Please, don't!"

Suddenly, I heard shouts and I was greatly realized when I recognized Much, Little John, and Alan some distance behind him. "Robin, stop!" They shouted. "Oi, Robin!"

It took me a few moments, but I soon understood that it was them Robin was running from. Not the sheriff or his men, not Gisborne, but his own gang. Tears came to my eyes. "Oh, Robin. How can you!"

John soon caught up with him. "Robin, do not do this!" he said sticking his staff into the ground. _Listen to him, _I silently pleaded. _Please, Robin! Listen to him!_

Robin turned to face him. "Give me that staff." _Oh, no, you don't!_

"What?" asked John, but before he could even react, Robin grabbed the staff and hit him. Hard. John landed on his back with a thud. "Hey!" shouted Alan as he and Much finally caught up with them. "Robin!" shouted Much.

Robin drew his sword and pointed at the two of them. "I said stop holding me back!" I couldn't believe he was doing this. I had of course known that he would grieve over me, but not even I could have expected his violent of a reaction.

"You can't do this alone." said Alan getting close to him.

"And what are you going to do, Alan, eh?" asked Robin pushing him away. "Tell me, what are you going to do? Rat me out?"

"That's a bit harsh." said Alan, obviously hurt.

"Once a traitor, always a traitor." Robin replied venomously.

"No! Robin!" I shouted wildly. "Stop this! Please, stop this!" I couldn't control the tears as they came rushing down my face.

"That's not fair!" declared Much, valiantly coming to Alan's defense. _Good old, Much._ I smiled through my tears at him.

"You shut up!" Robin shouted angrily pointing at him. "You leech! You're pathetic." He turned to walked away. "He doesn't mean it, Much." I whispered gently, wishing he could hear me. "He doesn't mean it."

"You're tired, Robin." said Alan. "We've been traveling for months!" Robin turned back around to face him.

"And I've had time to think. And I've made up my mind, I don't need you any more any of you." _Yes, you do, Robin. Yes, you do. Now more than ever. Please, just listen to them!_

"You don't mean that." said Much. "Any of it. This isn't you! None of this!"

"Much! It's over!" Robin shouted. "Robin Hood is finished."

"Don't say that!"

Robin grabbed him by the front of his tunic. "Robin Hood died in the Holy Land. Alright? With Marian."

"But you promised, Robin!" I whispered. "You promised me you'd keep fighting. Please, don't break that promise."

"Now all I have left is vengeance." he added, letting go of Much. _Vengeance is never the answer, Robin. Never!_

Much tried to grab him. "Then let us come with you!" Robin shrugged him off, and I watched in horror as he punched him.

"Hey! Hey!" shouted Alan rushing forward. Robin drew his sword again and pointed it at him.

"Stop holding me back! I mean it. Get back!" he pointed the sword at each of them in turn. John was now back on his feet and standing next to Alan. "Don't follow me." he stooped down and grabbed his bow, which had fallen on the ground. "Gisborne dies to day." He re-sheathed his sword and then turned around and ran off in the direction of Locksley.

As I watched him go, I felt an empty pit in my stomach. Robin. This was not the man I had known and loved. This was a man torn apart by grief and twisted into a machine that was willing to kill. Yes, Gisborne had killed me, but that did not make Robin's decision right.

"Please!" I said to God. "Don't let this happen!"

He smiled at me. "Don't worry, my child. A miracle is already on its way."

_Author's Note: Thoughts, anyone? I hope you enjoyed it and will keep reading!_


	3. TE Fight to the Death

How easy is it to forgive? If I had been asked that question while I was alive on Earth, I would have said it depends on the offense. I never, for example, would have thought that it would be easy to forgive a murderer, especially your own. Dying and going to Heaven had changed my prospective, though. When you're in Heaven, you can easily forgive anything, even the man who took your life.

So when I saw Guy lying there on his bed, I forgave him everything, but I somehow knew that he would never forgive himself. I may not be God, but I could sense the inner demons that he was facing. The guilt he felt was obvious. I did more than forgive him, I pitied him. "It's alright." I wanted to tell him. "I'm happy where I am. I don't blame you."

The peace I felt was soon destroyed when I saw an arrow fly through the widow and hit the head board. Guy was awake instantly, and we both knew what was coming next. "Gisborne!" Robin's voice was clear, hard, and full of hatred. If I could have appeared as a ghost and begged him to stop, I would have done so just then, but I was as helpless to prevent what was about to happen as a newborn babe.

"He is come." Guy said to himself, and it suddenly seemed as if he smiled slightly, and I realized that he was just as eager as Robin. "NO!" I shouted, but neither could hear me. Guy rushed outside sword in hand to where Robin was waiting for him. A crowd had already gathered to watch.

Robin drew his sword and Guy charged shouting "Hood!" as he did so. He swung at him, but Robin blocked the blow. Guy kept coming at him, and Robin managed to hit him in the face with his first, sending Guy backwards.

"Please, stop this!" I was getting frantic. I was shaking uncontrollably now. I knew that this fight would end in death for one of them, but which one? I was getting so emotional, that I didn't stop to think about the fact that one of them might join me this day.

The fight was getting hotter every second. _Clang, clang._ I couldn't stand to watch it. I closed my eyes, just listening to the sounds of the fight. Hoping, yet dreading, for it to stop.

Then I heard the screams. They sounded like they were coming from a little girl and I opened my eyes to see Guy carrying a child over his shoulder away from the village. The girl continued to scream. "Oh, no! Don't, Guy! Stop! She's just a child."

My eyes sought Robin and I found him fighting with a guard. He knocked him to the ground and hurried after Guy, the villagers all following behind him. The girl called out for her father. "Papa!"

"Put her down, Guy!" I was seething now. Had he no sense of honor? Just as the last of the villagers left Locksley, Much, John, and Alan came running in. _Good!_ I felt greatly relieved to see them. I knew they would not have abandoned Robin, even though he had ordered them to.

Alan stopped by a fence to catch his breath. "Where is he?" asked Much.

"Where's everyone?" Alan added.

"There!" said John, nodding his head in the direction that the shouts and screams were coming from. "Up there. Come on!" He took off and the other two were right behind him. I could only pray that they would reach Robin and Guy in time.

Guy ran through the forest, the girl on his shoulder still calling for her father. Robin was right behind him. "Where are you gonna take her, Gisborne?" he shouted.

Guy didn't answer, instead he kept running, but he was soon forced to stop when he reached the edge of a cliff. It was a long way down.

Guy turned around and took the girl down, holding in front of him as Robin and the villagers approached. "One more step," he warned, "and she goes over."

"Please," one of the villagers begged, "not my daughter."

"Mary!" a woman wailed.

"Guy of Gisborne!" I shouted, wishing for all the world that he could hear me. "Let the girl go!"

"It's alright." Robin tried to reassure her. "Don't be scared."

"I'm not." she said shaking her head. "You're Robin Hood." I smiled. _Yes, he is, _I agreed, _he just seems to have forgotten. Please,_ I added, _remember who you are!_

"Gisborne, let her go." said Robin, his hands out in a gesture of peace. "I'll drop my weapons." My smile grew. Now that sounded more like the old Robin.

"You first." said Guy not taking any chances. When Robin didn't move, he picked the girl up and swung her over the edge as if to drop her. She screamed.

"Whoa, alright!" shouted Robin. He quickly dropped his sword and bow and Guy set the girl back on the ground. She ran to her family, who embraced her and held her close.

Guy approached and faced Robin. "Times come for you to pay for what you did!" Robin told him. I groaned. Not again!

"No." said Guy. "It was you! You forced me to do it."

"You murdered her! You loved her, but you couldn't have her!

"She should have been mine!" Guy shouted, full of rage.

"She was my wife!" Robin shouted back.

"No!"

They threw themselves at each other and for a few seconds they wrestled on the ground. Then Robin hit his head on a rock. "No." I whispered. I couldn't believe it. "Get up!" I pleaded. "Get up!"

Robin groaned, losing conscientiousness. Guy found the necklace that all the gang wore. "Prepare to die, Robin Hood!" He pulled it off his neck.

He stooped and picked up Robin, holding him between his shoulders. "No, Guy! NO!"

The villagers all cried out as Guy threw Robin off the cliff. "Aaaaaaaaaaah!" shouted Guy, as if freed from a great burden.

"No!" shouted Much who had arrived in time with the others to witness this. He drew his sword and ran forward. Alan tried to stop him, but John held him back.

"I'll kill you!" shouted Much, but he was no match for Guy, who quickly grabbed him and knocked him to the ground.

"Take him away!" he ordered the guards who had just arrived from the village.

Alan struggled, but it was no use. John was too strong for him. "Hey!"

"No!"

"They've got him." Alan said helplessly.

"Not now."

As much as I hated to admit it, John was right. Now was not the best time to help Much. They stood a much better chance if they waited.

Robin wasn't dead. I could sense that much, but I knew that he might not have much longer to live. And thanks to Guy, both he and the ever faithful Much, were out of action.

I put my face in my hands and wept.

_Author's Note: Man! That was hard to write! I hope you enjoy it so far. Please, keep reviewing. _


	4. TE Man's Hope

Robin was nearly dead and Much had been taken captive. I felt as if someone had just ripped my heart out and stomped on it. Things were not going far from well. England was in need of a savior, but who? Robin seemed to have forgotten everything he stood for. He cast the title of "Robin Hood" aside as easily as one does a piece of rotten food.

Little did I realize that the miracle God spoke of was to come in the form of a man I had never met. A man with dark skin and dressed like a friar. When I first saw him, I thought him to be your everyday ordinary man of God, but I was soon to learn different.

When I first noticed him, he was in the forest, wading through the river towards a body: Robin. I thanked this kind stranger and watched with hope as he brought Robin to a cave. As he lay Robin on the ground, he spotted a piece of string around his neck with a ring on it. My ring. The ring Robin had given me when we got married.

I smiled. Robin wore it with him. A small reminder of his love for me. It was his reminder. It was all he had left of me.

The man studied the ring for a few seconds, then he removed the string from around Robin's neck. Time passed and Robin was lying with nothing but a blanket over him and the man was rubbing Robin's body trying to get him warm. He had also gotten a fire going.

"Come on." he said. He moved the blanket up higher and felt for a pulse. "Come on. I didn't come all this way for you to die on me before we even started."

What did he mean? I felt my hope for England and for the return of "Robin Hood" rising. Could this man help? Could he bring Robin back to his senses?

Suddenly, we caught the sound of voices. Soldiers. I realized that they were probably searching for Robin's body in order to prove that he really was dead. The man drew a knife and I recognized Guy's voice shouting orders.

The scene shifted and Guy was by the river. I didn't notice it before, but now I could see differences in him. Before he had always been well dressed and clean shaven. Now his clothes looked like they hadn't been washed for weeks and neither had his hair. The change, no doubt, came from his guilt. I pitied him.

"Where are you?" he shouted, not really expecting a response. He poked the ground with a stick, searching.

"Lost something, my friend?" Guy turned and saw the friar standing behind him.

"What did you say?" Guy all but hissed at him.

"Sir Guy, isn't?" The friar didn't look frazzled by Guy's behavior and I had to respect him for that.

Guy drew his sword. "Who are you? And what are you doing here?"

"Man of God traveling north, finding shelter where I can."

Guy lowered his sword and moved around him as if it leave. "I congratulate you." the man said, stopping Guy in his tracks, "You struck a great blow in the war against lawlessness, it must give you joy."

"Have you seen a body?"

"No, I have no corpse." I admired this man's ability to lie so smoothly, especially considering his profession. "The river's taken maybe."

"Maybe." Guy looked around. He started to walk away.

"You seem troubled, my friend." said the friar, following him. Guy stopped and the man moved to stand next to him. "Can I offer you a simple supper? Or a confession?" He reached his arm out to place his hand on Guy's shoulder, but Guy back away. "Sooth whatever it is that disturbs your mind."

_This man has very keen insight. _ I realized. He didn't know Guy well, but he could tell that he was greatly troubled.

"No," said Guy passionately, "I knew to keep searching. I want to find him, not to sooth my mind." Guy left and the man watched him go, but didn't follow him.

Time passed again and I saw the friar return to the cave in time to see Robin regain consciousness. He didn't open his eyes right away, but he coughed instead. I felt relieved. For the first time I was sure that he would live for many more days.

Robin opened his eyes and coughed again. The man was soon by him and held Robin's head up. "Robin, can you hear me?"

"Who are you?" Robin's voice was little more than a whisper. "Where am I?"

The friar didn't answer right away. Instead he lowered the blanket away from Robin's chest and placed his hands on his arm. "I said, who are you?"

"Brother Tuck." he answered with a smile. _Tuck._ I liked the name. I didn't know why, but it just seemed to fit this strange, but kind man of God. "Now," he told Robin, "hold still."

"What are you doing. Wait, don't..." he cried out in pain as Tuck pulled on his arm. Robin groaned and then coughed some more as Tuck gently placed his arm on his chest.

"Dislocated." he explained. "I didn't want to touch it until you were on the mind."

"Did I kill him?" Robin asked. _No, and thank goodness for that! And you, Robin of Locksley, will not be killing him anytime soon!_

"No." Tuck shook his head.

"Well," said Robin tried to sit up, "then I have to finish..."

"Whoa, you're not going anywhere." Tuck told him, holding him down. "Be still."

"You best let me up!" said Robin angrily. He tried to get up, but Tuck was stronger and held him down.

"I said, be still!" Tuck punched, knocking Robin out. "Rest in peace, my son." I actually laughed aloud. This man had guts! He replaced the blanket over Robin.

I smiled. My sadness and my despair were now gone. I felt sure that Tuck was just the man Robin needed to help recover and once again make a difference.


	5. TE Finding Passion

When Robin regained consciousness, he found himself tied to a rock. A fact which he could not be happy about. "It's your own fault." I reminded him.

Nearby Tuck sat tending to a stew that he was cooking over the fire. "Smell of my broth wake you, did it?" He spoke kindly and I knew he had no intention of letting Robin starve.

Robin nodded. "You knocked me out." This was a statement, not a question.

"Yep." said Tuck, not even attempting to deny it. He stood and brought a bowl of the broth over to Robin. "Here." He lifted the spoon to Robin's mouth. "Drink this."

Robin obeyed, but then he spit the broth out. Robin had many faults, stubborn was chief among them. I sighed. He wasn't doing himself or anyone else any good by refusing to eat. I wished I could have been there. I would have forced that broth down his throat.

Tuck just stared at him. "You want to starve? Then, fine. Starve."

"You best untie me." He spoke lightly, but I could here the threat in his tone.

"Nope."

"I don't appreciate being trussed up here like a pig!"

"It's for you own good." Tuck said firmly. "And mine. Now, drink this!" Robin didn't open his mouth. "Come on!" Robin hesitated but finally gave in and allowed Tuck to feed him some of the broth.

"Why you doing this?" Robin asked and I could tell that the question had been on his mind for some time.

"You know," said Tuck, "years ago, when I left this country, the people of this nation were proud, strong, full of spirit. Now, I come back to find their backs broken, their hope shattered. Everywhere I go I see fear and suspicion haunting their faces. And yet, everywhere I hear one name, even from the mouths of children. One name whispered in hope, one name that keeps the flame of England burning: Robin Hood."

Through out this narrative, I go see that Robin knew what was coming. When Tuck finished speaking, he hung his head for a few seconds and I hoped Robin Hood had returned, but when he finally looked Tuck in the face, I knew I was disappointed. "Well, maybe that name's already dead."

A tear trickled down my cheek. Man, he was so stubborn! _Have you no heart, Robin? Don't you care about the people anymore? If not, then the man I loved is dead._ "Because I'm down with it."

Tuck just started at him. He didn't yell or try to persuade Robin otherwise, he just sat there. I wondered what was going through his mind.

Time passed again and I saw Tuck returning to the cave. Robin had somehow managed to get free of his bounds and get his shirt back on. He was still weak and he gasped for breath. "On, no, no, no." said Tuck walking over to him. "You're not going anywhere my friend."

As he got close, Robin grabbed hold of him, throwing him to the ground, then he took off. "Robin!" I pleaded. "Just listen to him!"

"Robin!" Tuck shouted jumping to his feet and running after him.

Robin ran threw the forest, but stopped when he saw the soldier. He glanced back and saw another one behind him. The soldier spotted him and swung at him, but Robin dodged him and hit him in the stomach, hurting his arm in the process. He wasn't able to fight any more and probably would have been killed if Tuck hadn't been close behind him.

He managed to take out both of the soldiers, but one had just fallen on the ground. He turned just in time to see Robin grab a sword and turn towards the soldier. "Wait!" Tuck shouted. "He's just a boy."

"Tuck, Robin Hood is dead! It has to stay that way. I could be free of this at last." He charged towards the soldier once more, but Tuck blocked his path.

"Wait!Let me deal with him. Let me deal with it." Robin shook his head and started walking away. Tuck knelt down next to the soldier. He was right. He was just a boy.

He forced him to sit up. "You listen to me, lad." he said, not very kindly. "You leave now and never return. You'll tell no one what you've seen, or I'll come to you in the night and you'll die a terrible death! Swear on your mother's life."

"I've seen nothing. I swear." said the boy, frightened.

"Go!" said Tuck, none too gently. He pushed the boy up. "Go!" The boy got up and ran, not once looking behind him.

Robin had sat down on the ground, gasping for breath and clutching at is arm. Tuck turned towards him as he stood up. "I can't let you kill, Robin. Give me one hour to change your mind."

Tuck approached the village of Locksley with Robin close behind. Soldiers were everywhere, people were shouting and screaming. Robin looked away as if the sight caused him too much pain. He glanced back when he heard Guy shouting orders.

"Every day it gets worse." Tuck told him. "Injustice, cruelty, corruption. This people suffer and they starve." He looked back at Robin then back at the village. "Will you abandon them?"

Robin turned to leave. "Robin! Where you going?" Tuck called chasing after him.

"I can't help them." said Robin, turning back to face Tuck, his voice thick with emotion. "I've got nothing else to give." _Yes, you do, Robin. I can see it in you._

"You will believe in yourself again, I know it." said Tuck, as Robin to leave once more. Robin turned back again.

"I struggled." he said. "I fought, I gave everything that I had!" Robin put his hands on his hips and hung his head. "I even gave the life of the woman I love." _No, Robin. My life was mine to give and I __gave it willingly. You give yourself too much credit, _ I thought slyly.

Tuck just watched him, letting Robin get all his anger and emotion out. "Why are you doing this?" Robin demanded. "Why does it matter so much to you?"

"Because I have nothing in my life except my God and my country." Tuck told him. "I have no family, no wife. Yet I have a full heart. That passion must go somewhere, Robin."

Robin sat down. "I'm just saying rest first." said Tuck, kneeling down next to him. "Then, maybe, speak to that scruffy gang of yours."

_Oh, no! Much!_ How could I have forgotten? I had been so concerned with Robin, that I had forgotten all about his faithful servant and friend.

Robin looked ashamed. "I said terrible things to those men." _Yes, you did, _I agreed. "The bravest, most loyal men of England, I didn't want any more blood on my hands. The truth is, I'd die for them."

I smiled. Robin Hood was returning.

"Give yourself a chance." said Tuck.

"No, Tuck. I'm finished for good. I walk a few yards and I'm shattered. And you say I'm the last great hope for England." _Because you are, Robin! _

It was night time and a full moon shone brightly in the sky. Tuck and Robin were back in the cave. Robin was fast asleep, while Tuck perused a book. I couldn't tell what it was, but it certainly seemed to interest him.

"Maybe there is a way." he said thoughtfully. He pulled out my ring and looked at it, then he glanced at the sleeping form of Robin. "Forgive me, Robin." He stood up and left. _Where is he going?_ I wondered.

Little did I realize what it take to get Robin Hood back for good.

_Author's Note: Only one more chapter before the end of the first episode!_


	6. TE To the Rescue!

If I had known what Tuck was up to, I would have thought he was crazy. But in the end, his planned worked. England had its savior again and Robin and the gang were reunited. Yet I knew none of this. All I knew was that he was up to something. All I knew was that the future of England hung in the balance.

I saw Robin fully dressed sitting in front of a shrine. There were candles, many of them, burning brightly. Robin bent down and picked up a toy, a little doll made to look like him. As he looked at it, I could see the emotion in his face.

Tuck approached and knelt down next to him. "The people built this to remember Robin Hood." he explained.

"I never knew they felt like this." _So now that you do, Robin, what are you going to do?_

"You see the power you have? This is why God spared you." Tuck told him. "To give the people hope."

"I don't deserve it." said Robin, fighting back tears. _None of us ever deserve anything good, Robin, yet God grants us it anyway._

Tuck took a deep breath as if he were about to say something unpleasant. "Gisborne's taken your friends." That was then I knew what Tuck had done. I was shocked. He had give them up to Gisborne! I was angry, but then it hit me. _He gave them up so that Robin would be forced to save them and in doing so return to his old self._ It was a brilliant plan, but ultimately deadly if it went wrong.

Robin looked at him in horror. "They are to be put to death at noon tomorrow." Tuck told him.

Robin sat there silently for a few moments. "What should I do?" _I think you know what to do, Robin._

"What would Robin Hood do?" _Good answer!_ "Look into your heart, Robin." he said, putting his hand on Robin's shoulder. "You'll find the answer." He stood up and walked off, leaving Robin to himself.

When Tuck returned carrying firewood to the cave that evening, he found Robin gathering his gear together. "You are right." Robin told him without turning around. "I can't just turn my back on people who need me."

"So what are you going to do?" Tuck asked, throwing a log on the fire.

"Well, first I'm going to try and rescue my men."

"Right." said Tuck, throwing on another log. "All alone?"

"Well, unless you've got a better idea."

Tuck smiled. "Well..." he said with a knowing nod. "Actually, I do."

"Oh, do you? Well, are you going to tell me?"

Time passed and Robin and Tuck were outside, sitting down on a log. Both men were busy making arrows. Tuck looked over at Robin as he drew a breath and wiped his eyes tiredly. "Give it to me." he told him. "Come on!"

Robin handed the arrow he had been making to Tuck. "This is hopeless."

"You're best chance for success tomorrow is rest." Tuck told him.

"And what chance do my men have if I can't even sharpen an arrow, let alone fire one, eh?"

"Have faith, Robin. You won't be alone." Robin just shook his head. Tuck reached into his rope and brought out the string with my ring on it. "Here." Robin looked back at him and when he saw what it was that Tuck was hold out to him, he snatched it. He held it in his hand, forcing down the tears that were threatening to come.

"Where did you get that?"

"It was around your neck when I found you." I was afraid that Robin would get angry at Tuck for taking it, but my fears proved groundless.

"Thank you." Robin said, this voice thick with emotion. Tuck just nodded in understanding. He pointed up at the moon.

"What happens to the moon tomorrow happens once in a generation." he told Robin. "It's God's gift from the stars."

"My father," said Robin staring up at the sky, "we become stars." Tuck looked over at him. "If it's true," Robin continued, "then tomorrow we could be lighting up the night sky."

"That's a glorious thought." said Tuck. Robin smiled.

The next day, a crowd had gathered in the courtyard of Nottingham castle to witness the execution. I had excepted to see the noose prepared, but instead I saw Much, Alan, and John in front of a wooden wall with their hands tied above their head. Guards brought in what looked like a small wooden cart with a covering over it, hiding whatever it was that was underneath it. The covering was thrown off, revealing a long spear set between blocks of wood.

"It's a great day!" announced a voice that I recognize and loathed. It was Vasey, the sheriff of Nottingham. There he stood on the top steps of the castle, dressed all in black save for a fancy looking vest. Guy and a messenger of Prince John's that I recognized as Sir Jasper stood on either side of him. "For Nottingham, its people, and homeland security."

I noticed Tuck moving threw the crowd, his hood on his head, but his face was not hidden. I was glad to see him, for I knew that meant whatever is plan was it was now in action and that Robin somewhere near.

"To mark," continued the sheriff, "the extermination of the terrorist Hood, we shall execute his rabble." he pointed to the three men facing their death sentence. _They're not rabble!_ I thought angrily. Man, how that sheriff irked me.

"Prepare to fire." said the sheriff and the guards winded up the contraption. "If they had respected their sheriff and his authority, they could have avoided punishment of this severity and lived peaceful, rewarding lives, provided by this great shire of Nottingham. But they have made a choice and they will be given their just reward for refusing to abide by the laws of this great, great nation. The fatal consequence, defying Prince John and the authority invested in me, the Sheriff of Nottingham! Fire!"

The spear was fired, but thankfully Much, Alan, and John had managed to move out of the way its path. It landed in the wood without hitting anyone. I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well, at least it's not a dull death." said Alan.

"What?" asked John.

"People will be taking about this for years, John."

"Great."

Sir Jasper smiled, obviously amused. "Tasty." he said.

"Told you it was good." replied the sheriff.

Unnoticed to everyone, save Tuck, the sky was steadily growing darker, as the sun was covered. I smiled when I realized what was happening. _An Eclipse!_

The guards reinserted the spear. "This time make it flaming." the sheriff told them.

"Wait!" shouted Tuck, raising his hand and walking towards the sheriff. "A last prayer, Sir Guy. We must merciful, no matter how great the crime."

"Who are you, preacher man?" asked the sheriff, obviously annoyed at having the execution interrupted.

"Brother Tuck." answered Guy. "We can trust him. He's the man that brought these outlaws to justice."

"Sheriff," said Tuck, "it is sinful to offer no chance of absolution." The sheriff and Sir Jasper exchanged looks.

"Very well." the sheriff said. "Chop, chop. These boys have got a hot date." He smirked at his own joke.

Tuck turned away and began to read aloud in Latin. The guards put the spear on fire and Tuck glanced up at the ever darkening sky.

"Always the same these monks." said Sir Jasper.

"Alright, alright." said the sheriff. "That's enough of the piety. No man of la-di-da words can save their blackened souls. Fire it up!"

"Wait!" shouted Tuck again, holding aloft a flaming flare. Several people gasped. "In the name of God, wait."

"What are you doing?" shouted Guy.

"You and your master Prince John have not broke just man's law, but the Lords." said Tuck. "And for this you will be punished."

"What!" shouted Guy, drawing his sword as the sheriff rose to his feet.

"Fire it!" shouted the sheriff.

"Hear the Lord forespeak!" said Tuck. "The skies will darken and the sun will disappear." It was then that everyone finally noticed the sky. By this time the sun had been completely blocked. "There! It's happening."

People began to run and scream in fear. "Have faith!" said Tuck. "For soon a new day will dawn and you will be saved."

"What's happening here?" demanded Sir Jasper.

"It's a trick!" said the sheriff.

Guy grabbed a torch from a nearby guard. "Hood?"

"Robin." said John.

"Fire!" shouted the sheriff, but no one moved to obey him. "Fire!"

"Out of this darkness," said Tuck, " a legend will rise! Hope will be reborn."

"If you want something done properly..." said the sheriff snatching the torch from Guy. He made his way through the crowd towards the contraption. "Filthy peasants! Nobody touch him! Stay way from me!"

Tuck continued to shout words of hope and encouragement. The sheriff reached the contraption and fired it, but the outlaws were gone. The sheriff got closer to the wall where they had been standing and spotted three arrows. "Where have they gone?"

"You see!" said Tuck, pointing up to the sky. "The sun emerges again, like England's protector!" Sure enough, the sun was being unblocked and the sky was beginning lighten. Guy raised his hand to his eyes, shielding them the sudden brightness. "His journey is complete." Robin's form was silhouetted against the sky, bow in hand, an arrow ready to fire. "He appears into the light and he will save you. He has returned." Guy backed up disbelief on his face. "The legend is alive!" Guy almost stumbled over the sheriff's chair.

"Surprise, surprise!" said Sir Jasper angrily.

"No, it can't be!" said Guy.

"You incompetent fool!" shouted the sheriff, as Robin began to fire down arrows. Two caught the sheriff, pinning him to the wall and two got Guy, pinning him to the door.

"I am Robin Hood," Robin shouted down to the people below, "your humble servant. It is for you that I live to fight the evil that chokes this country. No longer shall we live in fear and darkness. We must stand together! Only then will the sun rise on this country, our England once more!" The people cheered and loved ones began to hug each other.

Sir Jasper was running to his carriage, but Tuck was already there. He slammed into him, knocking him down, and took two bags of coins from the carriage.

"Get him!" shouted the sheriff, still stuck to the wall.

"Robin!" Tuck shouted up to him. "A gift from the sheriff!" He threw the bags and Robin shot them both down. The people cheered as money came pouring down and the stooped to pick it up.

The guards were no on top of the parapet, trying to capture Robin. He evaded them and ran to the edge, jumped down and landed on a covering that his friends held out to break his fall. Robin got up and made his way over to Guy. Tuck noticed. "Robin! No!"

Robin ran to Guy and held a knife to his throat. "Do it!" Guy pleaded. "And live. Please!"

"You want this?"

"I live in hell."

"Then stay there." Guy cried out in pain as Robin scratched his cheek with the knife. Robin ran back to the others who handed him his bow and quiver.

It was an amazing plan and it wasn't until it was all over that I realized I had been holding my breath through it all. I jumped up and down with delight._ It worked! Robin Hood has returned!_

Back in the forest, Tuck was walking with Robin and the rest of the gang. "Now listen," he said, "they will come at you with everything they have now. Are you ready?"

"Well, they haven't sent anything yet." answered Robin. "Not now that there's a warrior priest on their case, eh? Tuck is joining our fight lads, he's one of us now."

Robin handed him the wooden the necklace that each of the gang wore. "These are yours."

"Hold on." said Alan. "You haven't explained where Gisborne knew where to find us yet."

"Sometimes you have to risk a lot to win a lot." Tuck told him. "It worked."

"This time." said Alan. "Next time you risk your own neck."

"I will and happily."

"You know I can't do this without ya." said Robin. "Any of ya. And I didn't mean those things I said. I'm sorry."

"Robin," said Much, "It's alright. We understand." _Much, _I thought fondly, _of course he'd be the one to forgive Robin so easily. _

"What happened to day will reverberate around England." said Tuck. "A story told around every fire and every child's bed. How the sun itself intervened in the fight against evil. The sheriff eclipsed. A legend reborn."

A little whiles later, Robin knelt by a tree. I watched as he dug a hole with his knife. He took my ring off from around his neck and kissed it. "I will never stop loving you." Then he buried it. _Nor I you, Robin._

_Author's Note: Whew! Man, that chapter was long. Well, that's the end of the first episode. I hope you enjoyed it. One down, twelve more to go. _


	7. Tuck

What is there to say about Tuck that has not already been said? He is a man of God who actually practices what he preaches. That is something I admire him for. With Tuck now around, I have no fear for Robin and the gang. They need him around, to remind them what they are fighting for. He is their anchor, he keeps them on the right path.

Tuck is also not one to allow his emotions to effect his judgment. He views people and decisions from a logical and biblical stand point. He will do what he believes to be right even if no one else does.

Yet he has his faults like everyone else. I soon learned that Tuck could be just as stubborn as Robin and sometimes more so. While he respects Robin's opinion and leadership there are times when he will go against them if he thinks it best. While incidents like that are few and far between, it does cause problems. Tuck is not one to ask permission before he acts.

Despite this, Tuck is an invaluable member of the gang. He has a way of speaking that made people listen. When he talkes, you found yourself wanting to believe every word he says, to take up any cause he asks of you. While this talent could be used for the wrong things, Tuck never asks anyone to do anything that he would not do himself.

Tuck does not hate easily. He has a general love of mankind, that sometimes extends to those you have done nothing to earn it. The only people that he truly despises are Prince John and the sheriff and they injustice with which they govern the land and its people.

Guy, on the other hand, seems to have Tuck's pity. Perhaps like me, he can see the inner demons that haunt him day after day. That doesn't mean that Tuck trusts him, far from it. Tuck trusts Guy just about as far as he could throw him. Pity and trust don't necessarily go hand in hand.

Over all Tuck is nothing more than a man. A man that fights for a noble cause. He is not to be idealized, not that he wants to be. He is someone who you could turn to in times of trouble. Someone who could give you wise advice, but he is just a man.

_Author's Note: Alright, Cause & Effect is up next. Keep reading!_


	8. C&E New Faces, New Troubles

Over the course of the next week or so, Robin and the gang got back into their old routine. Stealing from the rich to feed the poor, it came back all so naturally, that it felt as if they had never felt. They even came up with a few new tricks. One of which involved using a pulley system to release arrows from bows hidden out of sight so that their enemies would think they were outnumbered. Yes, sir, Robin and the gang were back!

But of course this meant that they were back to facing troubles of any kind. You couldn't steal from the rich, defend the poor and needy against injustice, and take a stand against tyranny without there being consequences. Fortunately, they were prepared for this, but what they weren't prepared for was the new friends they would be making along the way.

One day shortly after Robin's return, Guy and his soldiers were taking men from Locksley. Robin and the others watched, hidden behind one of the houses. They knew they had to act, but they had long since learned to think first. They had to know what was going on, before they charged in. It was a lesson I had had to learn myself and learn it I did...the hard way.

As I watched the soldiers snatching men from the village, some who were still mere boys, I felt my blood boil. _This isn't right! Taking them away from their families like that. What do they want them for? _

"They're making prisoners of them." said Much appalled.

"Slaves." corrected Tuck.

Robin saw Guy riding around the village on his horse. "Gisborne." Robin's voice was full of disdain.

A young woman ran from the village, pursued by a couple of soldiers. I didn't know why they were after her, but I figured it wasn't for anything good. _Run, girl, run!_

She didn't make it very far before Robin came up and tackled her to the ground. "Come here! Shhhhh!" He pulled away from the road and the approaching guards. She struggled against him for a little bit, but eventually allowed him to lead her back towards the trees, where the soldiers passed them by and where they were soon joined by Tuck, John, and Alan.

The woman finally got a good look at Robin's face. "You're Robin Hood." she said with obvious surprise.

"And young lady are lucky to be alive! Now, I need you to tell me what happened."

"I heard Gisborne say they were talking the men to be a soldiers." she told him.

"Why does the sheriff suddenly need another army?" Tuck asked, voicing my own thoughts.

There was a rustling of leaves as Much moved through the trees towards them. He stopped when he saw the young woman. "Who's that?" he asked, unable to take his eyes off her.

"That's just some girl we just saved." answered Alan as if it were no big deal.

"My name is Kate." she obviously didn't like Alan's tone or words. Alan made a face at her.

"Well, we'll get your brother back, Kate. I promise." _Her brother?_ Then I realized that her brother must have been one of the men that was taken. _She must have been trying to stop them. That's why the soldiers were after her. _I admired her bravery.

She stared at him silently for a few seconds. "We all thought you were gone forever. My little sister thinks that Robin Hood is just a story."

"Stories are important," Tuck told her, "strong than truth. Heroes inspire us."

"Tuck always talks that." said Alan. "Just nod and smile."

"Come on." said Robin, getting up. "We'll heard them off at the hollow."

The others all got up and followed him and Much went over to Kate. "I'm Much, by the way. And don't worry, I'll make sure you're looked after. I mean...we'll make sure...you're looked after." I couldn't help it; I laughed. That was so...Much. That was the way he acted round women that he liked.

"I can take care of myself." Kate told him. She went on to catch up with the others. Alan looked at Much, spread his hands and grinned.

"What are you doing?" he laughed.

"Shut up, Alan, just shut up."

A little while later, Robin spotted the village men being lead through the forest by a few soldiers. They were all chained and were walking very slowly. From his position behind a tree, Robin spotted Kate's brother. He quickly turned and made his way to the little hollow were they others were waiting. "We take them now, right?" asked Kate.

"No. Wait for his signal." Much told her as Robin drew his sword.

"She's right. Now's our chance." said Alan.

"Don't mistake rashness for loyalty." said Tuck.

"Wait, wait." ordered Robin.'

"Robin!" said John who stood behind the group and was keeping his eyes pealed for signs of trouble.

"John?" asked Robin, turning to look at him. "What's the matter?"

"Trouble."

Kate took off towards the soldiers and the village men. "Hey, come here, Kate!" said Alan, taking off after her.

She reminded me of me. I had done the exact same thing once and I had almost gotten Robin and the rest of the gang killed. I had thought that I was doing the right thing, when in reality I had led us into a trap. I prayed that this time it wouldn't end so badly.

"Wait, stop!" said Robin getting up and going after them.

"Where's she going?" asked John.

"Kate!" shouted Much as she knocked one of the soldiers off his horse. Robin and the others quickly managed to subdued several of the other soldiers. Tuck turned to help the villagers, as Kate slayed another one with a sword.

She went to her brother as Tuck worked to undo his chains. "Are you alright?" she asked. He just nodded.

"Kate, you put us all at risk her." Robin told her.

"I had to save my brother."

"Nearly there!" said Tuck.

"Kate, you shouldn't have come." said her brother. "It's too dangerous."

"I brought help." she told him. "This is Robin Hood."

"Robin!" shouted John as a group of men that had behind hiding charged them. Tuck finally got her brother's chains undone.

"Follow my men into the forest." he ordered the villagers. "Into the forest!" But they didn't have time.

The charging men circled around the group, cutting Robin off from the rest of the gang.

"Matthew!" Kate called desperately, as Tuck lead her away.

"You, men," said the leader of this new threat, "you belong to me now. You fight well for my cause and some of you might live to see your homes again. You cross me and you're dead. It's a good thing we came out to met them lads," he said turning towards his own men, "the sheriff wasn't exactly looking out for my...investments. Fine work all of you. Now, move 'em out!"

_He's Irish._ I could tell from his accents. I had never been to Ireland, but I had met a few when I was a child and their way of speaking was something that I had never forgotten.

"Here," said Matthew. He handed Robin his hood. "So they won't recognize you."

Robin took it and put it on. "Thanks."

With that Robin and the villagers found themselves being lead from the forest, perhaps never to see their beloved homes again. Something told me, that things were going to get worse.


	9. C&E Betrayal & Death

"Now thanks to you they've got Robin." Tuck told Kate as they walked along. "Did you really think you could save your brother on your own?" _Give her a break, Tuck. She isn't use to all this._

"Look, it was my fault as well, alright." said Alan, speaking up. "I went in too quick." I smiled, pleased by Alan's gallantry in taking the blame.

"Who were the painted faces?" asked Much catching up with the others. No one seemed to notice that Kate lagged behind at the end of the line. "They came out of nowhere!"

"Celts, warriors." answered Tuck. "A battle technique based on surprise and brute force. If they're working with the sheriff, we need a war type plan."

"Hold on, Tuck." said Alan, said stopping everyone in their tracks. "You put you in charge?"

"Well someone needs to lead in Robin's absence."

"Well, I don't see why it should be you."

"So you think it should be you after your reckless displace earlier?"

"So?"

I groaned. Now was hardly the time to be quarreling among themselves.

"Where's the girl?" asked John, interrupting the argument. The other three all looked at each other and then behind them, realizing Kate was gone. Alan groaned.

"Let's find her before she puts herself and Robin in danger." suggested Tuck. They all nodded and headed back the way they had come.

"You should have escaped while you had the chance." Matthew told Robin. The village men and Robin were now standing, still chained, in the courtyard of Nottingham castle.

"I get away, we all get away." Robin said. _That's my Robin._

"They are many of men from every village within thirty miles." said Matthew. "You'll never save us all."

Robin smiled and chuckled. "Well, I still have this." He should them the key he held in his hand. "Come here." he began to work on Matthew's chains, but quickly glanced over his shoulder to make they guards weren't watching.

"Right." he said, once Matthew's hands and arms were free. "Some of you men from Locksley know me. The rest know what I do. We have one chance to do this and we have to be ready to take it, for your villages and for your families. Will you stand with me and fight?"

"Yes." the men answered and nodded.

I was pleased to see that Robin still had his ability to persuade others. If he didn't who knows how things would have turned out?

"There she is." whispered Much. The rest of the gang were in Nottingham and spotted Kate threw a window. She saw them, but kept on walking. She was in line to get into the castle behind of group of women.

"She's trying to get in with the servants." Much realized. The guard at the door wavered her in. "She's done it. Amazing."

"There's too many guards." said Tuck.

"Still, we'll lay a trap in the forest." said John. Tuck nodded in agreement.

"To get to the coast road, they'll have to go through the ravine. That's are best chance to attack."

"I'm not leaving Robin." said Much.

"Or Kate." added Alan, giving him a look.

"Or her."

"Stay if you want to Much, but don't expect us to stay here and rescue you." Tuck told him as he and John left.

"Come on." said Alan, turning to leave.

"Go on. Go." said Much. Alan sighed and left. _Much, Much._ I murmured to myself. I felt sorry for him. He clearly liked Kate, but I could tell she wasn't interested, few women were.

Guy was walking through the castle hall when he saw Kate behind the group of women. "You!" Kate saw him and turned to run. "Seize her!" 

One of the guards grabbed her. "Come here!" She struggled as a second one grabbed her other arm.

"Well, you're becoming a bit of a nuisance." Guy told her.

"Do what you want to me." she said bravely. "I'm not scared of you."

"Really? What about that precious brother of yours?" Kate didn't say anything, but her face gave her away.

"Find her brother," Guy ordered the guards, "and hang him."

"You can't do that!" Kate protested.

"I just did. And make sure she sees him die."

"Please, he's done nothing wrong." she pleaded as he walked away. "The men you brought it, I know something about them." Guy turned back to face her. "They weren't just villagers." _Oh, no._ I knew what was going to happen. I knew what Kate would tell him, yet I couldn't blame her. She was just trying to save her brother.

Guy approached her again. "Talk."

"You won't hurt my brother?"

"I don't think you're in a position to bargain. What about the men?"

Kate hesitated. "One of them is...is Robin Hood." She looked away, feeling guilty.

Guy stared at her silently for a few seconds.

"The front line with me." said Robin, giving instructions. The men were circled about him, listening to what he had to say. "Hold off the guards. The second line attack the gates. Use the chains, anything you can find as weapons. Wait for my signal."

The Celtic leader and his second in command entered the courtyard. "They don't look like much." said the latter.

"Well, I'm givin' them to ya, Tiernan. Their yours to train and lead."

Tiernan looked at him in disbelief. "You expect me to make soldiers out of peasants? No." he shook his head.

Just then Guy entered the courtyard, the guards holding Kate right behind him. "Sargent! Extra guards now!" He drew his sword. "Robin Hood!" he pointed it at Robin.

"Ready!" shouted Robin. The men all filed into position. "Hold! Now!" They yelled and charged the guards. The guards swung swords at them, but were attacked by the villagers who used the chains and their own fists.

The Celtic leader watched in admiration. "No weapons, and yet they fight like lions for that man."

"To the gates!" Guy ordered, he went down the steps and took Kate from the guards. "Hood!" He held his sword in front of her.

"Wait!" Robin ordered the villagers and they obeyed.

"Another move and I kill the girl." Guy told him.

"Kate!" shouted Matthew, running forward.

"Wait, wait!" said Robin, moving to stop him, but one of the guards punched him in the stomach stopping him. Matthew picked up a fallen sword and charged Guy. He never had a chance. Guy easily deflected his blow and stabbed Matthew.

"Matthew!" shouted Kate, breaking free and running to her brother. She held him as he fell to the ground. "You alright? Let me look."

"You're surrounded." Guy told Robin. "Don't waste any more lives." Robin held up his hands in surrender.

"Matthew." said Kate, her voice breaking.

"Kate?" She took his hand.

"I'm here, I'm here. Matthew, I'm here." She turned to Guy. "I'll doing anything, anything you say, just please, please help him!" I don't know if my imagination was playing tricks on me, but I could have sworn I saw a hint of guilt in his eyes.

Robin looked on, sorrow in his heart and anger in his eyes. "Lie still." Kate told her brother. "I'm going to get you home. You'll be alright. Everything's going to be alright."

"Find a better place." he told her. "Take care of our family. It's up to you now."

"No, no, no! Matthew, Matthew!" He was gone. "No, no!" cried Kate. How I felt for her! I had never had a brother to lose, but I knew full well what it was like to lose someone you love. I had lost my father, but now we were reunited again._ You will see him again, Kate. One day._

"You'll pay for this, Gisborne." Robin told him.

"Get the girl out of the castle." he ordered the guards without taking his eyes off Robin. The guards bent and grabbed her. "No, no, no!" she struggled, still crying.

Guy pointed his sword at Robin again. "Say your prayers, outlaw."

"Gisborne!" shouted the sheriff from a nearby window. "You move, Gisborne, and you die."

"I will have his blood!" shouted Guy.

The sheriff moved a finger and two guards grabbed Guy. "Don't be so selfish."

"Get off me!" he ordered. "He dies now!" 

"Come, come." said the sheriff. "Surely you don't want to miss the slow and painful death of Robin Hood, hm?"

Kate was shoved out the castle door and she landed on the ground, still crying. She sat up and put her hand to her head. Much came from a corner and helped her up. He lead her away from the castle.

"Hey, it's me." Then he seemed to notice that she was crying. "What happened?" She didn't answer him, she couldn't. Instead, she just wrapped her arms around him in a hug as she continued to cry.

_Author's Note: Hmmm...it seems this episode might be shorter than the first. _


	10. C&E Alliance

"We call this room the vault." the sheriff told Robin. He was chained standing up, and his head was hanging down, his chin almost touching his chest. "One door, solid oak. Three locks, no windows, just...lost of stone." As he moved about the room, I spotted Guy in the door way. Tiernan and the leader of the Celtics, who was, as I learned later, Finn, Tiernan's older brother, were just behind Guy.

"A challenge." Robin said simply. The sheriff chuckled.

"This is the last room you'll ever know." Guy said, walking forward. The sheriff moved past him as Guy stood just behind Robin. "You should have killed me when you had the chance." he told him. "I'm going to make you suffer before you die."

"Just like you're suffering, Gisborne?" asked Robin, turning his head to look at him. "You know you could kill me a hundred times over, but the pain you're feeling now, the hatred, the self-loathing, it's never going to go away." He shook his head and looked back in front of him.

Guy grabbed him from behind and hit him. Robin groaned. "You'll never hate me as much as you hate yourself." he told Guy as he was leaving. Guy drew his sword and turned back.

"Oh, put it away." said the sheriff, sounding bored, his arms across his chest. "Always in such a rush. Sometimes I don't think you appreciate the poetry of pain." Guy sheathed his sword. "Something clearly Robin Hood does."

The sheriff and Guy turned and left. "So, how about the death of a thousand cuts?" suggested the sheriff. Finn was just staring at Robin, a thoughtful expression on his face. "Just as long as he dies." said Guy as the door slammed shut.

I sighed. _Typical. _The sheriff and Guy never changed. They were so predictable! They never killed Robin once they caught him. They preferred to gloat and have him face his death slowly. A mistake, as it always turned out.

Robin struggled with the chains, but to no avail. He breathed, deeply. The door opened again and Finn entered the room. He nodded to the two guards posted outside the vault and they closed the door behind him. Robin turned to face him as he entered. "A visitor? I won't shake your hand, if you don't mind."

"They tell me you were once a nobleman." said Finn. "That you gave up your title, lost all your lands, lost all your wealth."

"The people have endured far worse." Robin told him.

"That you lost the woman you loved."

"What do you want from me?" asked Robin and not all together kindly. "Irishman."

"We're the same, you and me. We both have cause, but you, Robin, you inspire men. I've seen it, right here. You see, my people, well, my people are as oppressed by this Prince John as your people, yet they will not rise for the call of Finn MacMorough."

"And you want my help." It was a statement, not a question.

"I want you to join forces with me. We can learn from each other, you and me. Together we can smash this Prince John and the sheriff. All of them. I'll help you free England, you help me free Ireland. We can both be kings. Now, what do you say to that?"

_You can't be serious!_ Richard is a good king. No one in their right mind would even think of replacing him.

"England already has a king." said Robin, getting right in Finn's face. Then he punched him in the chest and grabbed a decorative pin from Finn's belt. He wrapped the chains around Finn's neck and held him up to his side. "Richard. His name is Richard."

"I only have to shout." Finn told him. "There's half a battalion out there." Robin let him go.

"You think over what I've said to ya. Perhaps you don't want a crown, but a just and fair country? If that's what you want..." Finn knocked on the door, then approached Robin again. "I might be the only chance you have left."

The door opened and Finn left. Robin was still breathing heavily and once the doors closed, he let out a deep breath. He laughed looking at the pin he held in his hand. "Thank you very much." he said, using the pin to unlock the chains around his waist.

I chuckled. _That's my Robin!_ He always finds a way out.

"...so they tried to fight their way out," said Much,"and that's when her brother was killed. And then all hell broke loose! And Gisborne found out Robin was with them, and so the sheriff has Robin in the castle, heavily guarded."

"Right." said John grabbing his staff. "We go to Nottingham." The rest of the gang all turned to follow him.

"We'll be back." Much told Kate.

"What about the village men?" she demanded. "They're shipping them out to Ireland today."

I felt torn. I wanted them to go to Nottingham to rescue Robin, but Kate was right. The village men were also important. They couldn't allow the sheriff send those men away.

"Robin is our priority." Tuck told her, turning back to face her.

"Losing an entire generation of men will kill all the villages for miles around! You put one man before stopping that?"

_She's right,_ I realized. Surely even Robin wouldn't put himself before all the village men who had been taken.

"Kate," said Tuck, not unkindly, "villages are dying across England. The only thing the people have is spark of hope called Robin Hood. He is important than any one man. He is an idea, something the people can believe in." He turned to leave again.

"I gave up Robin to Gisborne." Kate said, stopping all four men in their tracks.

"You what?" asked Alan, aghast.

"You didn't say that." said Much, both hurt and shocked.

"I'd do it again." she said, unrepentantly. "To save my little brother. He wasn't important enough. He was just a village man who wanted to raise a family and live an honest life. Well, I believed in him! Now he's dead. And you think that the idea of Robin Hood is more important than his life." She shook her head. "You make me sick." She turned and walked away.

I felt for her. She had just lost someone she loved and I knew how that felt. _Matthew is important, _I wanted to tell her. _ Everyone is._

Much made a move to follow her, but Tuck stop him and shook his head. With a sigh of disappointment, he and Tuck watched her leave.

Robin freed himself of the chains around his hands and waist. He had just bent down to undo the chains on his legs when he saw a rat chewing on a piece of food. It was sitting just under one of the stones that made up the wall. Robin crawled over to it, going as far as the chains would allow.

"Hello, little fella. Hey." he reached out and petted it with one finger. "Where did you come from?" The rat ran away and Robin managed to pull himself forward a little more. "You might just have found me away out of here, you." he told the rat as he began scratching at the stones and the dirt around them.

_You can do it, Robin. I know you can!_

"Just ran that by me again," said Tiernan turning to his brother in disbelief. "We're gonna do what?"

"We're going to break Robin Hood outta here." Finn told him.

"Then it must be all this English air because you're not thinkin' straight!"

"Tiernan, for once in your life, will you stop lookin' for an easy ride and see what's staring you right in the face." He placed a hand on his brother's shoulder. "Robin Hood is no ordinary outlaw. He's one of us! He's fighting a tyrant, the sheriff!"

"You told me to do the deal! We had nowhere else to go."

"But now we do! Robin Hood. Look, with a man like that along side us our Irish people will rise and fight." Tiernan shook his head. "I'm sure of it!" Tiernan remained silent. Finn looked at him in disappointment. "You've lost the fire, baby brother, if you really ever had it."

Tiernan just looked at him. "Are you with me?" Finn asked him. Tiernan stood there in silence for a couple of seconds before turning and walking away.

"Tiernan!" Finn called after him.

Robin continued to scratch at the wall, and soon was able to remove one of the smaller stones from the wall, revealing a hole. For a moment it gave him hope, but when he put his arm in there, he realized there was just more dirt. He looked over at the rat, who just sat there as if watching him. "I never would have fit through there anyway." He closed his eyes and shook his head, forcing himself to think.

"Come on, Robin, come on! Think." He looked behind him and then back at the stone he had just removed. He twisted around and moved his legs so that he was in a sitting position. Then he took the tunic and hood Matthew had given him.

He lifted the stone onto the tunic and looked up. "Please God. Come on." He folded up the ends of the tunic so that it completely covered the stone. He looked over at the rat again. "Ready?"

He lifted the tunic/stone and brought it down on the chains on his legs. He paused listening for signs that he had been heard. Obviously he hadn't been because he it did again and again, finally breaking the chains on his legs.

"Yes!" he pulled the broken chains apart. "You little dancer." He pulled the chains away from the shackles around his legs.

Finn placed a bucket against one of the walls. Smoke started to rise from it. He covered his mouth with his arm and coughed. With his other arm, he waved the smoke around, causing it to spread. "Fire!" he shouted. He coughed again.

"Fetch water! Fire!" He moved towards the man guarding the vault. "You, get the prisoner out of there!"

"Open up!"

"No, no, no, no, no." said the sheriff suddenly appearing from around a corner with several guards behind him. "I'm afraid your privileges in my castle cancel, my friend." He smiled. "An old trick." He pretended to cough, as Guy walked behind him. "But a very good one."

Tiernan entered the room and Finn saw him. "Tiernan."

"Sorry, brother. The sheriff here made me realize the problem," he said as he approached Finn, "you know it's not with our cause."

"No," agreed the sheriff, "though a very worthy endeavor."

"It's with the man who's leading it." said Tiernan gesturing to Finn.

"You fool." said Finn.

"I found a really ally right here."

"Hmm..yes," said the sheriff coming forward, "in exchange for a few small trifles. A county called Way, I believe."

"You haven't the sense to lead an army," said Finn, "let alone a nation."

Tiernan chuckled. "Says you." He spat on the floor. "But the men are with me. It didn't take much persuasion mind, but then again, all you offered them was a glorious death in the name of the cause!"

Finn rushed forward and grabbed Tiernan by the shoulders, but two guards quickly pulled him away. "When, I'm king," Tiernan told him, "they will be well rewarded." He patted his brother than walked away as the guards began to drag Finn to the vault.

"Are you gonna leave me here?" Finn bellowed. "Tiernan!" Tiernan turned around to face him. "I'm your brother! I'm your king!"

"Chain him up and throw him in there with Hood." ordered the sheriff. "They can die together." Finn continued to shout his brother's name as the door to the vault was opened and the guards took him inside.

Robin stood, seemingly still chained. "Tiernan!" shouted Finn as the guards chained him to the wall. "Get back here and set me free!"

"Save your breath." Robin told him as the guards left.

"I'm selfish, greedy little brother." said Finn. "By the time he's bored of this new game, he'll have ruined our last chance to free Ireland." He pulled against the chains. "We should never have come here. Our cause belongs to our people. Yours... yours have trouble enough with this poisonous sheriff. "

"Perhaps we can be allies." said Robin. Finn looked over at him and Robin threw the chains away from himself.

"How did you do that?" asked Finn as Robin approached him.

Robin held up the decorative pin. "You helped me. Now I'll help you." He set to work freeing Finn from his chains.

I smiled. _An alliance!_ I was glad. Robin needed as many allies as he could get, and Finn seemed genuinely concerned about his people. The two men needed each other. I felt certain that together they would succeed.

_Author's Note: So sorry for the long wait between updates, but classes started last week and I'm just now starting to get into the swing of things. So hopefully I'll be able to update more frequently again._


	11. C&E Escape

Kate slowly walked through the village. She seemed to find no purpose in her movements and the people passed by didn't give her a second glance. She neared a house with a pottery business in front and I saw a blond woman who looked enough like Kate that I realized she was her mother.

The woman saw Kate and stopped what she was doing. "Kate!" She went over to her daughter. "Kate, I've been so worried!" She stopped when she saw the look on Kate's face. "Matthew?" Kate just shook her head sadly as tears began to form once more in her eyes.

Kate and her mother walked into the house, her mother shutting the door behind them. "I'm so sorry," said Kate. "Robin Hood tried to save him."

"I hope Robin Hood gets hung from the highest gallows in Nottingham!" her mother cried out passionately. I knew that she was speaking from grief and that she didn't really mean that. Otherwise I would have been very angry with her for those words.

"It wouldn't bring Matthew back though."

"Robin Hood is an outlaw. It just brings trouble. They'll be back now, the sheriff and his men, back to make examples of the rest of us."

"That doesn't mean that we should just sit here and take it!" said Kate. I admired her for that. She was certainly a brave young woman who wouldn't allow herself to be trampled on.

Her mother slapped her. "That kind of talk is dangerous! That's what's got your brother killed!"

Tiernan stood in the courtyard before his men. "A great day of an execution..." said the sheriff coming out, but he stopped when he saw that Tiernan had all his men gathered together.

"It's a long march," Tiernan told him, "we need to leave now."

"Yes, but..um..surely we should stay to see the executions."

"No."

"But it's Robin Hood and Finn."

"Sheriff, I will not watch my brother die. We leave now, or the deal is off."

"Very well."

I smiled. Tiernan may be a coward and many other things besides, but at least he wasn't going to sit back and enjoy his brother's execution.

Kate and her mother sat across from each other at a rectangular table. "This is my fault." Kate said. "Matthew died trying to save me from Gisborne."

"What?" Kate's mother's question was no more than a whisper.

"I went after Matthew alone," Kate told her, "without thinking. I got Matthew killed."

"No." Her mother reached across the table and gently took her hand.

Kate shook her head. "If only I hadn't been so stupid!" 

"No, Robin Hood killed your brother with his talk of fighting for a better future." her mother said vehemently.

"You're wrong. These people believe in him. Matthew believed in him." Her mother just started at her in shocked silence. "And that's good enough reason to help." said Kate standing up

"Where are you going? Kate! Robin Hood's a criminal." Kate went towards the door and opened it. "Kate, please! You'll end up like your brother."

Kate turned to face her mother. "I'm not doing this for Robin Hood." she told her. "I'm doing it for Matthew."

_Good for you._ Everyone should fight. Everyone needs someone or something to fight for. Kate had found hers.

Guy walked passed several men and approached the sheriff. "I want to see Hood die."

"Have I not made myself clear?" asked the sheriff. "No money until the conscripts are at the cost. Patronage first, Hood later."

"I will have my way. I will watch him die, then I will sending his head to you on the road where you can send it with the money to Prince John."

The sheriff thought this over for several seconds. "Yes." he said finally. "Very good. Prince John would like that. He could show off his head in his trophy room." He chuckled. "Perhaps I will allow you to have your way, but if you even think of defying me again, then it will be your head on its way to London."

The sheriff moved passed him and Guy just smiled. The sheriff mounted his horse. "Move out!" he ordered.

I just rolled my eyes. _You never change, do you, Guy?_

"Mice!" said Finn with disgust, stomping his foot and nearly hitting one.

"Hey." said Robin. "Leave it be."

"Mice."

"Help me shift this." Robin told him, pointing to one of the stones in the wall. "Come on." Finn went over to him.

"It looks pretty solid to me."

"Yeah. That's find out, shall we?"

The two men bent down. Robin spit on his hand and then held it close to the cracks. "I can feel a draft. Come on."

Alan poked his head around a corner. He watched as the guards closed the door to the castle. He sighed and turned back to the others who were right behind him. "These gates are impossible." he said. "Too many guards."

"Same with the west." said John.

"Storm the battlements?" said Much. The others just looked at him.

"What?" said Alan.

"I'm joking." said Much . "Joking." he repeated, noticing the look Tuck was giving him.

"Pssst!" hissed John and nodded in the opposite direction. The others turned to see Kate. No one spoke for several seconds.

"I know it's my fault that Robin Hood was captured." she said. "But I want to help you save the village men, this once. I don't want Matthew to have died for nothing." I smiled fondly at her and wished I could give her a warm, sisterly hug.

"Well, apparently your the leader, Tuck." said Alan, when no one said anything. "If was me," he shrugged, "I reckon she's a good fighter."

"And she's got in the castle once before." added Much.

Tuck looked at John who simply nodded. Tuck turned to Kate. "You take orders from me." he told her. "Go in alone, and we leave you behind." Kate nodded to show she understood.

I was relieved to see that the gang harbored no bad feelings towards her. They understood why she did what she did and they didn't resent her for it. I was also glad to see that they were will to let her help.

"Make sure the executioner's prepared and have horses ready." Guy told a guard as they walked through the castle. "We join the sheriff immediately Robin Hood is dead."

Robin and Finn moved the stone away and then looked at the hole. "Drainage gutter." said Robin. "That's are way out."

"We're gonna get out through here?" asked Finn, incredulous. "That's not possible!" Robin just laughed. Then he went and grabbed the chain.

"Open the door." Guy ordered the guards standing at attention before the vault door. One of the guards turned to obey and was taking a long a time getting the right keys.

Finn was lowering Robin down the gutter using the chain.

The guard still fuddled with the keys, and Guy was getting impatient.

Robin still hadn't reached the bottom of the gutter when the length of chain ran out, but fortunately it was a short fall, so he let go and his feet soon hit the ground. Finn turned as he heard the guard trying to get the door open and he slide into the gutter.

"Come on." said Guy, impatiently. "Come on!" The guard finally got the door open, as Finn fell down the gutter. Robin was already crawling through the tunnel at the bottom. When Finn landed with a groan behind him.

Guy entered the vault and drew his sword. He sent a quick glance into the gutter. "They've escaped!" he said turning back to the guards. "You!" he pointed to one of the guards. "Wait there!" he ordered pointing to the gutter. "The rest of you, search the castle! Find them!"

Robin and Finn crawled and soon saw the end with a grate over it. Behind it they could see clear skies. "Finn," said Robin, "I think this may be our way out." Robin crawled forward. Finn glanced quickly behind him before following.

Robin reached the grate, which he kicked out with both feet. He then repositioned his body and looked out. He groaned. "Finn."

"What?" Finn snapped.

"We have a problem." As Robin moved to look up and I could see that the opening to the tunnel where Robin and Finn were was high up, very high.

"Get me the chain."

"Why?" Finn barked, clearly frustrated.

"Just get me the chain!"

Finn growled, moved backwards, hit his head, groaned, grabbed the chain, and moved forward again. He scooted the chain over to Robin.

Robin kept one hand over it while letting it run over the edge of the opening, until it he had it as long as he needed it to be. "Grab my feet."

Finn crawled forward and grabbed a hold of Robin's feet. Robin swung the chain back and forth a few times, and then threw it up, getting it caught on the battlements above.

He hauled himself up and using the chain, began to climb upwards. Finn crawled to the edge of the opening and when he saw how high up they were, he crossed himself. He looked up, saw what Robin was doing, and prepared to follow suit.

Robin soon reached what appeared to be an iron cage, suspended over the castle wall. He got on top of it then got onto the wall just as a guard came running up. Robin kicked him, sending the man flying backwards.

He went over to a wooden ladder that lead up to one of the towers. This tower had over it a shelter of some kind, that was made of four wooden polls that were connected by a red martial in the shape of a square pyramid. Finn drew his sword as another guard came at him and pierced the man through the heart. Robin ducked as a third guard swung at him and threw the guard off the tower.

From where he was standing in the courtyard, Much could see Robin. "Robin!" he shouted.

"Much!" shouted John as two guards spotted him. "Guards!"

"There!" they shouted.

"There!" said Guy pointing into the sky at Robin. "Get them!"

Much and John fought as the two guards attacked them.

Guy and his soldiers ran back into the castle.

Robin broke a wooden stick with a red flag at one end over his knee.

Guy and the soldiers ran up towards the battlements.

Robin tied a took a piece of wood and hit one of the polls with it. "With me." he told Finn. "Hold this." he tied a piece on wood to a poll he had added in the middle.

"Are you sure about this?" Finn asked him.

Robin chuckled. "I hope so."

Guy and the guards rushed onto the battlements.

Finn and Robin held onto the contraption. "Ready?" Robin shouted over the roar of the wind. Finn nodded. "Now!" They pushed off the tower, and they contraption glided through the air with Finn and Robin holding on tightly to it.

Guy arrived in time to see it leave. "Hood!" he shouted. "Hood!"

"Hey!" said Finn, as Robin laughed like a delighted child. "Robin! We're flying!" And he too began to laugh.

I laughed right along with them. I had watched their whole escape in silence and expectation, and I hadn't been disappointed. Robin's escapes were always daring and full of excitement. _Good for you, Robin! Fly away, fly away, Robin!_

_Author's Note: Originally this was going to be one last chapter, but it ended up being so long that I decided to split it in two. So, one more chapter of Cause & Effect!_


	12. C&E Are You With Me?

The rest of the gang watched from the ground in amazement and people began to clap and cheer as the contraption brought Finn and Robin gently to the ground. Robin spotted his friends.

"John, grab the sides!" The gang and Kate rushed forward and did as he asked.

"Where's the men from the village?"

"On the road," Tuck told him. "We have horses."

They left the contraption where it was and began to run. "You came back." Robin said to Kate in surprise.

"To save the village men, sir." she replied. "That means helping you, first thing."

"I'm glad you did. Come on!" Guards began to chase after them.

As I watched them side by side, a curious feeling gripped me, but I couldn't put a name on it.

The sheriff, Tiernan, and his men were well on their way to the cost when Guy and his soldiers caught up with them. "Robin Hood and Finn have escaped." he told them. "They're after you. We have more men on the way."

"You let my brother get out!" shouted Tiernan, in fear. "He won't rest until he's haunted me down." He turned his horse to leave. The sheriff and everyone else ducked as arrow whizzed past their heads.

"We're under attack!" the sheriff shouted.

"It's Hood!" said Guy. "Take cover!"

The sheriff, Guy, and their soldiers turned and back to ride off, but Tiernan and his men took off in the opposite direction.

He slide off his horse next to his men. "You two, get the money and come on!"

"Where's he going with my money?" the sheriff demanded. "Get after them, Gisborne!"

Guy turned his horse around and went on to obey.

Robin shot an arrow. It hit and broke a rope, which triggered the bows the gang had set up earlier, causing more arrows to fly.

"They're everywhere!" shouted Guy. "Pull back! Wait for reinforcements! Move!" I laughed out loud. The sheriff and Guy's biggest mistake time and again was underestimating Robin, but every now and then, like now, they _over_estimated him, which was actually quite funny.

"Much, Alan!" ordered Robin from where the gang was hiding. "Keep the sheriff, Gisborne, and his men down. The rest of us after Tiernan. Go!" The gang broke up to do as he ordered.

Kate was ushering the village men into the forest. "Go! Into the forest, men. Come on!"

"Come on! Will you hear up?" Tiernan shouted at his men, but the next second he was grabbed by Finn, who kept his knife at his throat. Tuck and John punched Tiernan's two men in the faces.

"You're already dead." Finn told his brother.

Finn tied Tiernan over his horse. "I'll take my leave of you, Robin Hood." He approached Robin with a smile. "When I'm king of Ireland, there'll always be room at my court for you."

"That's alright. We got our own fight here."

"What about your brother?" asked Tuck.

"He's no brother of mine." Finn told him. "Not anymore. He'll get a fair trial."

"Come on, John." said Robin, as the outlaw picked up Finn's chest of money. "Give the man his money."

"I don't really need it all." Finn said. "For your men. For their families." _Looks like someone's had a change of heart._

John nodded. "Plenty left to raise an army."

"Small group of highly committed men," said Finn, "that's worth more than an army of slaves."

"Good luck, my friend." said Robin, shaking his hand and clapping him on the back. "And spend the money wisely." He nodded at him. "We will."

Robin watched as Finn and his men left.

Guy and the sheriff were leading their horses, with their soldiers following close behind. They stopped as a new set of soldiers appeared on horse back, but these men bore the symbol of Prince John. "Ah, Prince John's escort." said the sheriff. "They want their money, Gisborne." he told him as the two approached the prince's men.

"So what do we do?" Guy asked.

"We?" the sheriff chuckled. "Do you think I'm going to be responsible for your arrogance and your incompetence? Hmmm?" He drew Guy's sword and pointed it at him.

"You can't be serious." Guy said. "Put it down."

"No, Gisborne. This time, you pay my dues." the sheriff told him. "Gentlemen, good to see you." he said, addressing the prince's men. "Very smart, lovely colors, tight fitting uniform, excellent. Slight change of plan, there is no patronage money." he said pushing Guy towards the prince's guards who grabbed him.

"What?" said Guy.

"But Gisborne has volunteered to go with you to explain why not to Prince John, personally!" He threw Guy's sword on the ground.

"No, my lord!" Guy begged. "Please! This means certain death." _Wait a minute! Only a few days ago, you were begging Robin to kill you. Why the change of mind, Guy?_

The sheriff just laughed. "Get off me!" Guy shouted. "Get off me!"

The sheriff grabbed some of Guy's belongings off his horse and threw them to him. "You never know. You might catch Prince John in a good mood! He's all yours!"

"It won't forget this!" said Guy as the guards led him way. "I'll be back! For you! Get off!"

I had to admit, I did feel sorry for him. I had never met Prince John, but if he were anything like the sheriff, or worse, than Guy certainly had nothing to look forward to.

Alan was passing out money to the village men. "Whoa! One at a time, Gents. You'll all get some."

Kate walked off. It looked like she was leaving and Robin Hood followed her. "Kate." She turned to face him. "I just wanted to thank you. And I am so sorry about what happened to your brother. If I could change anything..."

"I said I'd help you this once." she interrupted. "But my brother's dead! And people will keep on dying while you give them false hopes of a better life." She turned to walk away, but Robin grabbed her arm.

"Kate, wait! I mean to make those hopes real."

"It's too late for Matthew. Well, I've paid my debt for turning you in. For his sake. I don't ever want to see you again."

As she walked away, I some how knew they'd see her again. Kate's a girl with spirit, and spirit cannot be kept hidden or contained for long.

Robin watched sadly as she left. Much came to his side. "Kate?" said Much, watching her retreating form. "Where's she going?"

"She's going home to her family." Robin answered, as Tuck joined them. He shook his head."I've let her down." _No, Robin. You haven't. You've given her hope. She's just grieving for her brother and she doesn't realize it yet. _

"You can't expect to win over every mind, Robin." Tuck told him. "Her heart is full of sorrow. Let he grieve. That grief will turn to anger and then she'll be ready to fight." Robin thought this over. "Just as these men here," Tuck continued, "are ready to fight. This is the core of our army. All they need is a leader."

Robin nodded then walked over to rock where he stood on it so everyone could see him. "My friends." Everyone turned to him. "Lie low here until it's safe to return to your villages. You're marked men. But I swear to you that brand you wear will one day become a badge of honor. And believe me when I say that the day is coming when the sheriff will be held to account for what he's done to you and your villages. And on that day, my men and I will call on you. We will call on your strength, we will call on your courage, we will call on the love you bear your families to stand with us and fight. To overthrow the cruel injustice that infects this land. Are you with me?"

The men all shouted and cheered. _Yes, Robin, they all certainly are._

_Author's Note: And that's it for Cause & Effect! Two episodes down...eleven to go. Yikes! Whew! This is going to take a lot longer than I thought! Oh, well. It'll help me learn patience, which I definitely need._


	13. Kate

Kate. I had never met her while I was alive, but watching her in while I was in Heaven, I had taken an almost instantly liking to her. I understood and sympathized with her situation. I had seen many young women face similar difficulties, but it was the way Kate handled them that made me admire her. Unlike her mother, she did not cast blame on Robin and she knew that he had only been trying to help. While I knew that she must harbor some anger towards Guy, she mostly blamed herself for her brother's death.

I know how that feels. When my father died, I blamed myself for his death. I had said things to him, mean and untrue things, and I believed that he had gotten killed because he had tried to prove me wrong. It took time, but eventually my grief turned to anger, just as Tuck said would happen to Kate, and I was ready to fight.

I know that one day Kate will do the same. It is the natural way of things; I only hope that it will not happen too late, for her sake and for the sake of everyone else around her. For while it takes time, time is pressing in, and sooner or later Robin and the gang are going to have to fight the sheriff once and for all, and I know they could use Kate's help.

I was an only child and I had always dreamed of having a brother or sister, mostly the latter. Some to you I could tell all my secrets too. Someone who would understand me and not blame. Someone I would be inseparable with. But it was a dream that was never fulfilled, yet watching Kate I soon came to see her as the sister I had always wanted but never had.

Even her name has a particular charm for me, for it was my mother's name. I had never known her in life as she had died giving me life. I thought it strange, yet pleasant, that this young woman should share her name.

It's funny. I do firmly believe that if I had lived, that the two of us would have gotten on splendidly, yet we are different. I came from a wealthy family that ended up being rather poor and then later homeless thanks to the sheriff, while she has always been poor. I was an only child, while she had a brother and still has a little sister. I never knew my mother, while hers lives and her father, I am guessing, is dead.

We come from two different worlds, yet we both support the same cause, though she will take time to realize that.

I do not know what the future holds for her and I can only guess, yet I have a strange feeling when I think about her, especially if her and Robin's names happen to be uttered in the same sentence. I do not know what this means, and I cannot tell whether it will turn out good or bad. I only hope that neither one will be hurt by the either. All I can say is that I that her future turns out to be a bright and happy one.

_Author's Note: Alright! Lost in Translation is up next!_


	14. LiT Damned

"You know, this is my favorite thing," said Much, carrying a basket as he, Robin, and Tuck headed toward Locksley to bring food to the people, "the handing out of parcels, being welcomed into the village as sons returning from battle."

Robin and Tuck, who each had a sack over their shoulders, just smiled and let Much prattle on. They didn't mind it really, for they were in just as a good a humor as he was.

"It is better to give than to receive." added Much. He paused and turned to Tuck. "You're an educated man, who said it is better to give than to receive?"

"Nobody important," Tuck told him, "just some carpenter from Nazareth." Robin chuckled.

"Oh, him!" said Much, laughing.

Robin smiled as Locksley came into view, but the smile quickly disappeared when he spied men on horse back riding into the village. "Get down!" He pulled Much to the ground with him and Tuck came down of his own accord. "The sheriff." said Robin, warily.

The villagers all came outside to see what was happening, just as an open carriage rolled into the village from the opposite direction. When the villagers saw who was inside, they immediately knelt on the ground and crossed themselves. I recognized him. It was the Abbot of Kirkles.

The villagers gathered around as the Abbot stood. "Last night," said the sheriff, "the Abbot of Kirkles came to me and asked for my assistance." I spotted Robin, Much, and Tuck sneaking into the village and hiding behind a stall, where they could get a good glimpse of the sheriff and the Abbot. "It has come to pass," continued the sheriff, "that Robin Hood and his gang of feral, unwashed postunes have stolen from the church."

"Liar!" I shouted, both shocked and angered by the sheriff's audacity in making such a ridiculous claim. Robin and the gang may have repeatedly stolen from the rich, but not once have they even thought of doing us a horrible deed as steeling from the church. Surely none of the villagers would believe this...would they?

"Eh?" Robin looked over at the other two men. "What's he talking about?"

The sheriff slid off his horse. "I know,"he said, " that you know Robin Hood. I know that some of you have come to look upon him as a friend. Don't be fooled. Since he's return from his travels, Hood has become a Satanic killer." _Liar, liar, liar! _I was fuming with rage. "And anyone harboring him," he continued, "shall be damned to a heretic's death...at the stake."

I could sense the fear in the villagers and I now doubted what course of action they would take in regards to Robin. They may not have feared for their lives, but their souls? That is an entirely different matter. _Oh, please, God! _I pleaded. _Don't let them give in!_

"Where," said the sheriff taking Kate's little sister Maggie by the hand, "their flesh shall be charred from their bones." He took Maggie and began to walk with her around the village. "Now, the abbey is under my protection, I've thrown a a cord around it and tripled security, just in case Hood tries to steal again." He sat down and placed Maggie on his lap. "If this village does not assist me in capturing Robin Hood, then it shall be deemed infected with evil, and it shall be wiped clean of every living creature."

I felt sickened by this. How dare he! I had always known the sheriff was a man who would do anything in his power to catch Robin, but I never dreamed how far that would be. Now I knew. I looked over at the Abbot, praying and hoping that he would contradict the sheriff's words, but as he raised his left hand, showing off his ring, I knew my hopes had proved groundless.

"By the power invested in me by his holiness, Pope Celastine III," he said, "I issue this holy edict." Tuck looked as if someone had just cut the ground out from under him. "It's every man, woman, and child's sacred duty to help bring the demon Robin Hood to justice."

"NO!" I screamed. "No, no, no, no, no, no! He's not a demon!" I pounded my fists in anger. This couldn't be happening, it couldn't! Why would the Abbot do such a horrible thing?

I could see the anger and shock in Robin's eyes and I knew he felt exactly the same way about the situation that I did.

"This is bad." said John. Robin, Tuck, and Much had returned to the camp and delivered the bad news.  
"This is very bad." he said pacing, back and forth. "This is not good!" he shouted angrily. He suddenly stopped and looked at Alan.

"Hey!" said Alan. "It wasn't me. I wasn't anywhere near the abbey last night."

"Don't you understand?" asked John. "The Abbot has damned our souls...forever!"

"Alright," said Much, "less of the forever!" He turned to Tuck. "Why would the Abbot do this?"

"Only one way to find out." said Tuck, looking over at Robin.

"No, no, no, no." said Robin, shaking his head.

"Come on, Robin," said Tuck, "we need to confront the Abbot right now, challenge him. We need to understand why he did this, what hold the sheriff has over him."

"If we attack the abbey now, it will just confirm the sheriff's lies." said Robin. I knew he was right, but that didn't make me any happier about the situation.

"Well then, what do you suggest we do about it?" asked Tuck.

"We go to the people." I could tell from John and Tuck's reactions that this was not what they had been hoping to hear. "We go to the people," Robin repeated, "and show that we're still on their side. We trust the people to make up their own minds.

"Robin," said Tuck, "the people fear and love the church in equal measure."

"Tuck's right." said John. "They will never believe us over the Abbot!"

"Well, we'll see!" said Robin, earning himself more disapproval from Tuck and John.

"I cannot understand this." said Tuck, angrily. "This is one of the finest scholars of his generation. He's spent his entire life crusading for justice, searching for truth."

"Obviously there's something more precious to him than the truth." said Robin.

"Yes!" said Tuck. "I need to find out what that is."

"And I said we need to leave the abbey alone." reprimanded Robin.

"We need to find-"

"Tuck, that's my final word!" said Robin.

I sighed. Both men were right. They couldn't go near the abbey for fear of making it look like the sheriff was telling the truth, yet they need to know why exactly the Abbot was doing this. Was there any way out of this difficulty?

_Author's Note: Alright, the first chapter of Lost in Translation! So what do you think?_


	15. LiT Outcasts

_Author's Note: So sorry for the long wait! I've been busy with school work and I wanted to finish up some other fanfics that I had started before this one. _

Late that night while everyone else was still asleep, I watched as Tuck snuck out of his bed and away from the camp. I sighed. _What does he think he's doing?_ Hadn't he heard a word Robin had said? Obviously, he was ignoring all that.

Tuck made his way through the dark towards the abbey. When he reached it he could see the guards on patrol. He thought for a moment and then snuck in through the sewers, where he climbed up through the privy.

I wrinkled by nose. I certainly didn't envy him that. _Don't forget to take a bath later._ I silently reminded him. A small smile tugged at my face, as I imagined how Robin and the others would react to a smelly Tuck.

He quickly found his way around the abbey with drawing attention to himself. It didn't take him long to find the Abbot of Kirklees. The Abbot was in a room sitting at a desk, writing. His back was to Tuck. He wasn't very wise, I thought, sitting with his back to the door. Anyone could come in and just kill him. "I'm busy." he said, without even bothering to turn around. He said something in Latin. "Always remember, work is prayer."

Tuck replied in Latin as he made his way to the side of the desk and drew his sword. The Abbot closed the book he was writing in and looked over at Tuck. "I see," he said, "you are an assassin."

"No, merely an inquisitor." corrected Tuck.

"You presume," said the Abbot, "I fear your blade."

"I think you fear the sheriff." said Tuck. I saw the flicker in the Abbot's eyes and saw that Tuck had struck a cord. "What hold does he have over you that you would damn a man like Robin Hood, a man of honor and justice."

The Abbot rose from his chair. "My son, there are things going on here of such magnitude, such complexity, as to be beyond your understanding." I snorted. _ I seriously doubt that._ Tuck was one of the most learned men I had ever seen.

Tuck chuckled softly. "Try me."

The Abbot lead Tuck, sword still drawn, into the chapel. The Abbot turned to face him. "Once you see what is hidden here, you will understand why I had to do this." he told Tuck. "You know me, my son." He gently pushed Tuck's sword away. "Have faith in me again."

I had a bad feeling about this. The Abbot seemed sincere, but I got the feeling that he wasn't going to just tell Tuck like that. No, this was a trap. _Get out of there, Tuck!_

The Abbot walked forward and after a moment's hesitation, Tuck placed his sword on a bench and followed him. The Abbot turned suddenly around. "Guards! Seize him!"

Tuck turned to run, but the guards were already upon him. He pulled a mace and chain from his belt and I wondered where on earth he had been hiding it. The guards were stupid enough to come at him one at a time, and he easily fought them off. But in a few minutes several more guards arrived and the all went at Tuck at once, drawing their swords and placing them at his throat. Tuck had no choice but to surrender.

As the Abbot had watched the fight, a look of what appeared to be guilt and shame crossed his face. "I came here to help you." Tuck said.

"No one can help me." said the Abbot sadly. "Take him."

Locksley village seemed oddly quiet the next morning as Robin and the rest of the gang came to give the villagers some food and money. Everyone just watched them in silence, not moving to take the offerings. "Shouldn't we be looking for Tuck?" asked Much, looking rather uncomfortable with all the stares they were receiving.

"I don't trust that monk." said Alan matter-of-factly.

"He can look after himself." said Robin, curtly. "We've important work here."

Kate's little sister Maggie ran to her mother who was tilling the ground and hadn't seen Robin and the gang approaching. She tugged at her mother's arm and pointed, a smile on her adorable little face. "What are you doing here?" asked Rebecca, her voice full of disapproval as she approached Robin, Alan and Much. John to the edge of the village to keep watch.

"We just wanted to make sure you were provided for." he answered, handing her a bundle of food. She took it, looked at it briefly then let it drop to the ground.

"I can't accept it," she said,"nor will anyone else."

"After all we've done for you people?" asked Alan, incredulously. "After all we've sacrificed, this is how you treat us, is it?" Kate had by this time come up and joined her mother.

"What about what I've sacrificed?" Rebecca asked him. "What we're all sacrificing every day while you and the sheriff play out your little war games?" This last part was said accusingly to Robin.

"We can't take the risk, Robin." said Kate, not unkindly. "Not since the church has branded you a heretic." I felt grateful that Kate, unlike her mother, was being open and honest about the situation. Sure they were all scared, understandably so, but why hide that? There was nothing to be ashamed of.

"Oh, come on!" said Alan. "You don't by all that mumbo jumbo, do ya?" I rolled by eyes. Alan was extremely talented when it came to making a bad situation worse. _Him and his big mouth._

"The Abbot of Kirklees is a great man. He wouldn't lie!" Rebecca said angrily.

"Rebecca," said Robin, "the sheriff is using the Abbot to frighten ya."

"Well, it worked." said Kate. She wasn't angry like her mother and I could see that she at least understand the situation from Robin's perspective as well as that of the villagers.

"Well, then let us protect ya!" said Robin. His voice was rising and I could sense the hurt and the anger that he was holding in check. The anger was not directed at Kate or her mother or any of the other villagers, but at the sheriff and the Abbot.

"Protect us?" asked Rebecca, her voice full of spite. "Where was your protection when my boy needed it."

There was a moment's silence then Robin spoke, his voice low and gentle. "Your boy died for justice and truth." He shook his head. "Don't let that all go for nothing."

"Robin," said Kate, "even you can't take on the church and win." I noticed that she hadn't come right out and said that Robin was guilty of the crimes charged by the church. I smiled as I realized that she was probably the one person in the village who believed Robin and the gang were innocent.

"Robin," said John running up, "sheriff's men."

"You can't be seen here." said Kate. "Quickly, get inside!" She lead them to the house she shared with her mother and sister. Rebecca was right behind him. Just before reaching the door, Much turned back and grabbed the bundle of food Rebecca had left on the ground.

The sheriff and his guards rode through the village. One of the guards, led Tuck. His hands were tied and the end of the rope was in the guard's hand. He was drenched in sweat as he struggled to keep up.

The gang were all huddled in Rebecca's house and she quickly shut the door. John peered out the widow. He sighed. "Robin." he whispered. He joined John at the window just as the sheriff began to speak.

"This," he announced, "is one of Robin Hood's men."

"It's Tuck." joined whispered to the others.

"Last night he broke into the Abbey." continued the sheriff.

"What were you think?" Rebecca demanded looking at her daughter.

"We can't just hand them over." said Kate.

"They're heretics now. You'll get us all killed!"

"They've been good to us." Kate objected. "I can't just see them hanged or worse."

"Kate, don't be a fool. Don't be like your brother."

"This was once an honest man," said the sheriff.

"Ten." said John counting as the sheriff continued to speak. "We can take them."

"We can't save Tuck now." said Robin. "We go out there and the sheriff will now the people are sheltering us."

"He's still one of us!" hissed John.

"We are not going out there!" said Robin firmly. "He's baiting us. We are not playing the sheriff's game. We stay put."

"Look at him." said the sheriff. "Trapped, like a wild animal caught in a snare. Is this how you want to end up?"

Rebecca looked at Kate and then back at the Robin and the others.

"I'm your friend." said the sheriff. "Yes or no? We've had hard times, but we will come through. Now, who will help me capture Robin Hood, hm?" No one stepped forward. The villagers all remained silent.

"Are you so blind that you cannot see?" asked the sheriff. "I am not your enemy, Hood is. I have not forsaken you, forsaken God, Hood has! If you do not assist me in the capture of Robin Hood, then things will only get worse, beginning with our friend here, who will be torn apart on the rack tomorrow. And unless you want the same for yourselves and your loved ones, then you better come to your senses!" The sheriff nudged his horse and he and the guards left, taking Tuck with them.

John stood up in frustration. Rebecca looked at Kate and nodded her head in Robin's direction. Kate reluctantly turned to him and the gang. She hesitated. "You're no longer welcome here." Her voice felt broken as if she were about to start crying at any moment. "And if any of you come again, we'll have no choice but to turn you in. We have to protect ourselves now! Go. And stay gone. Forever."

I felt my heart bleed for this young woman who wanted to help them so much, but couldn't for fear of her what might happen to her family if she did. She was doing what she believed to be the right thing and I couldn't blame her at all.

Robin and the others just listened to her in silence. No one spoke. No one blamed nor condemned her. I saw the understanding and compassion in Robin's eyes. He just nodded. A simple nod, no more than that. He looked a the others. "Let's go." he said, quietly.

They gathered up their weapons and left without another word. Robin went last and he cast one last sad glance at Kate before he went.

I closed my eyes and felt tears running down my cheeks. This wasn't right! Robin and the others had done nothing wrong. They had feed the people and as Alan had said, sacrificed so much for them. Now they were not only outlaws, but outcasts as well. Unwanted and unloved. This shouldn't be happening.

_Author's Note: Once again, so sorry for the long wait! But I certainly hope you enjoyed it and I want you to know that I have every intention of finishing this up. So, keep reading! And as always, review!_


	16. LiT Truth

Tuck sat in a cell with his legs crossed. His back was to the cell door. He didn't move as it opened and the Abbot was let in by the jailer. The door closed behind him. "Leave us." The jailer did as he was bid. Tuck looked at over his shoulder at him. "He sent you, hasn't he?"

"Why is a man of learning prepared to sacrifice himself for a common thief?" asked the Abbot. I laughed. _Robin is anything __**but**__common, my lord Abbot._

"Robin Hood is the last hope for this country." answered Tuck passionately.

"An outlaw? I don't think so." said the Abbot, equally as passionate.

"You've seen the faces of this people. They're crying out for inspiration, for guidance."

"The church can offer people guidance."

"The church is lying to them."

"Unless you give up Hood," said the Abbot sorrow being to taint his voice, "Locksley is damned to death. Women, children. The sheriff will stop at nothing!"

Tuck stood and turned to face the Abbot. "There was a time when you would never yourself be so intimidated. When you defend a pauper against the cardinal!"

The Abbot stepped forward. "You may have no care for your own life, my son, but surely, surely you don't want innocence to die."

"Why have you lost your stomach for the fight?" bellowed Tuck angrily.

"Not so, my son." said the Abbot. "Not so. I have simply chose a different battleground."

"And what battleground is that?" Tuck demanded. "I know you, Abbot. I studied your writings when I was a boy. Your translations of Aristotle and Plato, I followed your teachings like an apostle!"

"Unless you give up, Hood," said the Abbot, "then there is nothing more I can do for you." The Abbot turned away.

"Your battleground has always been the words of great men. Your mission always to bring enlightenment to ordinary people, how has that changed?" asked Tuck.

"Tuck," said the Abbot turning around, "Tuck, some words are more danger than others, some words are deemed too holy to be translated."

I didn't know what he was talking about, but Tuck obviously did. His eyes widened in shock. A shock mixed with joy and hope. "Oh, sweet heavens, no." he said his voice barely above a whisper. "No, no, it cannot be. The Holy Bible?" I let out a gasp. The Bible? Could it be? Had the Abbot really translated the Bible into plain simple English? English that the ordinary men, women, and children could understand? This sounded just too good to be true.

"In English?" continued Tuck, echoing my very thoughts. "But the Pope has decreed that it remain in Latin."

"Now you see why I have to tread carefully." said the Abbot. So this was what the sheriff was blackmailing him with. I suddenly understood the Abbot's situation. He had my pity and I found myself wondering what I would do in that situation. "Look." he said, pulling out a parchment of paper from his robe and handed it to Tuck. "Look, my son."

Tuck tentatively took it. He began to read aloud to himself. "'If I give all I have to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.'" He looked up. "It's from Paul's letter to the Corinthians."

"Ten years hard toil." said the Abbot and I could have sworn that their were tears in his eyes.

"This could change everything." said Tuck, his voice thick with emotion. "Give the people the power to interpret the will of God. It would be a revolution."

"I...I have to stop the sheriff from burning my book." said the Abbot.

"So, this is why you are the sheriff's slave." said Tuck.

The Abbot nodded. "He will destroy it unless I can make you betray Hood." He clasped Tuck by the shoulders. The tears in his eyes were unmistakable now. "Join with me."

Tuck sadly shook his head and I understood. Was the book really more important than Robin and the others? Was it really more important then what we had been fighting for? No, it wasn't. God knew that. He was more concerned with the Abbot doing the right thing and saving Robin, then protecting a translation of his holy word. The Bible could always be translated again, but Robin and the others, they only had one life.

"I will never betray him." said Tuck. His voice was low and soft, and without the anger that it had held before.

A second passed in silence and the Abbot seemed to understand. "Then I fear for your life, my son." He took back the paper with the translated letter on it and left.

Robin and the gang snuck back into the village. He approached the tar merchant. "How much for two barrels of tar?" he asked.

"You have to have a signed order from the sheriff to purchase tar." the man answered, hefting a heavy barrel.

I grinned when I noticed where Much's gaze lingered: Kate. She was chatting with some other women her own age. She was a rather attractive young woman, there was no denying that.

"How much to provide for you and your family?" asked Robin of the tar merchant. I didn't check his answer as Alan caught Much's eye.

"Cover for me?" Much whispered.

"Where you going?" Alan followed Much's gaze and smirked. _Shut up, Alan. Leave him alone._ "Alright. Careful, yeah?" Kate had no wondered off with her friends.

"Thanks." Much turned to go.

"Oh, Much." Much turned to face Alan. "Don't just stand their gawking this time, eh? Just say...tell she's perfect. Woman love to hear that sort of thing." I groaned. What did Alan know about women? Nothing, obviously. _Don't listen to him, Much._ Alan was never the best person to get advice from, unless it was on how to snick into a place undetected or how to lie your face off. The subject of women was definitely not his expertise.

Kate was swiping when Much came upon her. "Kate." She turned, a little bit startled, but she relaxed when she saw it was just Much. "I...have to talk to you." He sounded so nervous and I felt sorry for the poor man. Much was not the type you could converse well with the women...well, women he liked.

She sighed and pulled him out of view. "The sheriff 's guards took all our animals. Cause we didn't give up Robin." She didn't sound happy, but who could blame her?

"I want to help you." said Much. He took a deep breath. "I care about you, Kate." _Good start, Much._

"Why are you doing this?" she asked and I could tell that she wasn't interested, any woman would. But Much probably didn't. I knew that he was just setting himself up to get hurt. _Just walk away, Much. _I wished he could hear me.

"Because..." _Oh, no! Don't! Don't listen to Alan's advice, Much. _"I think you're perfect." I groaned. This was not the best thing to say to a woman and I could tell that just by looking at her that Kate thought the same. She didn't look at all impressed or flattered.

"Perfect?" She stared at him as if that was the best compliment he could up with, which it apparently was...and it wasn't even his. "Is that a joke?"

He shook his head."I look at you...and I want to..." he took a step closer to her. "...protect you."

I shook my head. Poor Much. This just wasn't the way to go about it and it wasn't helping him at all.

"Can't you see you're just making things worse?" asked Kate. She wasn't angry, she just stated in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Maybe." said Much. "But I'm sorry. I can't help it. I've never-"

"No, nothing could ever happen," said Kate cutting him off, "between us. Ever. You understand? You're dirty, you smell, and you're trouble. The best thing you can do is just vanish." She turned and walked away.

_Ouch._ Take about being blunt. I wasn't angry with Kate as much as I felt sorry for Much. She had been honest about how she felt about him, but she could have been a little kinder in saying it. _Poor Much._


	17. LiT Hope

The morning of Tuck's intended execution was bright and sunny. The sheriff and his guards entered the courtyard where a crowd had already gathered. In the middle of the courtyard was Tuck, attached to a wooden rack. I felt a lump rise in my throat at the sight.

The sheriff approached him. "Brother Tuck," he said addressing the crowd, "for crimes against God, the church, and the...faithful of Nottingham, you are to be rapped, drawn and quartered." There were low murmurings of astonishment amongst the people.

The sheriff signaled to a big burly man who was standing next to a small table nearby. The man drew out a knife from a piece of clothing. He looked pleased with himself and the task he was about to perform. I felt disgust and contempt for this man."Beautiful day, hm?" said the sheriff. "Almost wants to make you burst into song."

"You start off, I'll harmonize." Tuck told him sarcastically.

"Oh, humor." said the sheriff chuckling to himself. "Well, perhaps you need to know that my favorite moment," he raised his arms over his head and pretended to be stretched, "in this little procedure," he purposefully changed his voice to sound like that of a man being stretched on the rack, "is when you hear a great big pop!" He put his arms to his sides. "Pop, pop!" He began to laugh and so did the people, but their laughs sounded more than a little forced.

"This isn't over, Sheriff!" said Tuck, as a white cross was painted on his chest.

"Oh, really what?" said the sheriff. "You think Hood is going to come and rescue you, do you?"_ You bet he will, Sheriff. If I know Robin, I know he'll do exactly that._ "I don't see him. Hood? Hood?" he called. "Hoody, Hoody! Come out wherever you are!"

Suddenly there was the sound of an arrow whizzing through the air. The sheriff whirled in the direction of the sound, just as two more arrows hit the rack. "Hood!" shouted the sheriff, spotting Robin on top of the battlements. Robin shot more arrows, hitting some of the guards who were running in his direction.

Tuck grunted as he pulled on the ropes attached his this arms and they broke. "Back!" shouted the sheriff, edging on the guards who were running in the opposite direction of Robin. "Back!"

Alan jumped onto the platform on which the rack stood. He quickly began to undo the ropes tying Tuck's feet to the rack. "You took your time." said Tuck.

"We were a bit stretched." replied Alan.

"Watch out!" warned Tuck just as a guard came at them. Alan kicked the man in the face knocking him backward. Alan drew a couple of swords and defended himself and Tuck from more guards.

"Where's the second relief?" the sheriff demanded, drawing an arrow out of one of the guards.

Tuck was now free and was fighting along side Alan. _Where are John and Much?_ I wondered. As if in answer to my question, the sheriff turned to see Much perched on top of John's shoulders. He was holding a barrel. A barrel of tar, the contents of which he quickly poured on the sheriff. I laughed like a delighted child. _Way to go boys! _

Then Much threw the empty barrel onto a guard who was coming at them. There were several more right behind him. Much drew his sword before leaping off of John and then throwing himself on them.

John kicked one back to the ground as he started to get up and then ran after Much who was already on his feet and moving. The sheriff tried to shout some orders but tripped on his own tar covered robe.

"Let's go!" Tuck shouted to Alan. The two jumped down from the platform and ran off to find John and Much. John sent another barrel rolling into some more guards. The sheriff tried whipping the tar away from his face.

The barrel that John had sent rolling had a hole in it and tar was splatting onto the ground. The sheriff froze as he saw Robin notch another arrow, an arrow that was on fire. A huge grin lit my face when I realized what it was Robin was planning on.

The sheriff must have realized it too cause his eyes widened and his mouth just hung open. He looked down at the ground, at the "X" created by the tar. He watched in horror as Robin shot his flaming arrow, watched as it landed right in the middle. The fire quickly began to spread.

The sheriff looked back at Robin, hatred evident in his eyes. "I just I'd put a spark back in our relationship, Sheriff!" Robin called down. I giggled. _Not a bad pun._

I proudly watched as Robin turned and climbed down a rope, away from the fire. He didn't look back as he hurried to rejoin the rest of the gang.

The sheriff fumed as he approached the castle. "I thought I doubled the guard!" he said angrily, staring at the guards standing at attention. "Or did I just double the incompetence? You allowed Hood to escape again!" The guards did not reply. "You are more useless then Gisborne." He kicked one of the guards, sending him sprawling down the castle steps.

The sheriff entered the castle and looked over the courtyard. He turned to the Abbot. "Tomorrow is Saint Barnabas's Day. All the people will be in the Abbey."

"Yes." said the Abbot.

"We must give them something concrete, something they can touch, feel, smell."

"They don't need to touch or feel God to believe." said the Abbot.

"Idiot!" said the sheriff. "These people need to be frightened out of their wits."

"What on earth would you have me tell them?" asked the Abbot, sounding amused. "That the hand of God will strike them down if they don't help you capture Hood?"

Like the Abbot had been obviously joking, I could see that the idea struck the sheriff as a good one. _Oh, no!_

"What did you just say?" he asked. "The hand of...oh! Oh, this is good! This is tremendous." The Abbot looked at him.

"Divine inspiration." said the Abbot, obviously not liking where the sheriff was going with this.

"Oh, don't give him the credit." said the sheriff. "This was all me." _True, _I agreed wryly, _God would never have come up with such a low and evil scheme. _The sheriff turned. "I want every wretched villager from Locksley in the Abbey tomorrow. I'll give them a Saint Barnabas's Day they'll never forget!" 

Much let out a sigh of relief when they finally made back at the camp. "You disobeyed me." said Robin turning to Tuck.

"I had no choice." said Tuck.

"Tuck, we never act alone!" said Robin angrily.

"Robin, I had to find out what hold the sheriff had over the Abbot!"

A moment passed in silence before Robin asked, "And did you?"

"Oh, yes!" said Tuck nodding his head. "Yes, I did."

"Well?"

"The Abbot has translated the Bible into English." A shocked silence greeted the camp at his words. I could see by the look in Robin's eyes that he is mind was working to process this unexpected but wonderful revelation.

"The Bible?" said Much finally. "In English?"

Tuck nodded. "Yeah."

"Hang on, hang on." said Much, starting to get excited. "The Holy Bible, in English?"

"That's right yeah." said Tuck, nodding again.

"Adam and Eve, The Flood, Moses in English?"

Tuck chuckled. "You catch on fast don't you?"

"Loaves and Fishes, Crucifixion, Resurrection, the final judgment, all in English?"

"Much!" cut in John and I couldn't tell he was not happy.

"Is that even allowed?" asked Alan.

"No!" said John. "It's blasphemy!"

"No, John, no!" said Tuck. "It's progress! It's taken him ten years, and it can enlighten a nation." John shook his head in disgust.

"Tuck." Robin handed him his canteen full of water.

"Thank you, thank you."

"We have to get the Abbot to reverse his edict against us." said Robin.

"There's a special service tomorrow morning." said Tuck.

"Saint Barnabas's Day." Much realized. "Everyone will be there."

"Including the sheriff and his men." added Tuck.

"So, we have to find that Bible, right?" asked Alan.

"Alan, you go with Tuck." instructed Robin.

"Right?"

"He's the only man who knows what to look for and you know the castle better than anyone." Robin clarified. "When you find the Bible, you bring it to us."

"Where?"

"The Abbey, Alan. If the sheriff is using the Bible to make the Abbot lie, it's what we'll use to make him tell the truth."

_Author's Note: Just one more chapter and Lost in Translation will be finished!_


	18. LiT Free

The next morning, bells rang at the Abbey and if it hadn't been Saint Barnabas's Day, I would have thought there was a wedding. Villagers milled into the Abbey, the women with flowers in their hair. I spotted Kate with a group of young women as they headed inside. They passed by Robin, Much, and John who were hiding around the corner, hidden in the shadows.

Meanwhile, Tuck and Alan, dressed as Monks, snuck into the sheriff's private chambers in the castle. They glanced around the room briefly before Tuck turned to Alan. "It will be big." he told him.

"Right." whispered Alan, and they separated around the room, looking everywhere they could for the Bible. Once, Alan accidentally knocked some dishes onto the floor, but as no guards came running, they gathered they had been unheard.

Tuck opened a chest and peered inside. He looked around for the other man. "Alan." Alan, who had opened a different chest, turned at the sound of Tuck's voice. Tuck reached into the chest he had opened and gently pulled out a leather bound book with loose pages. I knew the moment I saw it that it was what they were looking for. _The translated Bible._

Tuck brought it over to the table and gently laid the book on top of it. Alan joined him. "This is it." Tuck breathed, not taking his eyes off the book. "The Bible."

"We need to get a move on, Tuck." Alan walked off, but Tuck stayed where he was.

"Yeah," he said absentmindedly. He glanced once at the retreating form of Alan and then looked back down at the book.

The Abbot walked down the aisle of the Abbey and the people crossed themselves as a sign of respect. I saw Kate standing towards the front of the room, her mother Rebecca right beside her. The Abbot knelt and at the front and began to mutter a chant in Latin, but part way through he was interrupted by the sheriff who was sitting in a chair facing the people. "Tediae, tedium, tedious." he said. "That's quite enough of that rubbish." The Abbot snapped his head around to start at the sheriff.

The sheriff stood with arms out stretched. "My children," he began, "I was once lost like you." he put his hands to together in front of him. "Wretched like you," _You still are, Sheriff!_ "wondering in the wilderness. And it was there in the desert, crawling on my hands and knees, like a dried crab, that I was guided," he snapped his fingers, "to a cave." A friar came forward with a wooden box, "and it was in that cave," the sheriff opened the box, "that I found this: the hand of the divine physician Saint Luke!" There was a collective gasp and as the sheriff drew out an old, skeletal hand.

People crossed themselves in reverence and I wondered how on earth anyone could be so naïve to believe this! The hand of Saint Luke, yeah right! It was more likely the hand of some poor beggar that the sheriff himself had seen executed. _Besides, wouldn't Saint Luke be buried in Jerusalem? _

"It was this hand," continued the sheriff, "that healed me. Healed me of my pain." he began to stride down the aisle as he spoke and as he passed Kate, I could tell by the look on her face that she at least wasn't paying into any of this._ Good for you!_

"It guided me on the path to salvation, cleansed me of all my sins." Here he actually kissed the hand and I grimaced. Even if that were the hand of Saint Luke, it couldn't heal anyone. _Only God can do that._

"And it was this," he said holding the hand above his head as he walked back up the aisle, "holy artifact that Robin Hood and his gang tried so fragrantly to steal, not once but twice!" The Abbot just stood there, silent. He did nothing to contradict the sheriff's wild and false claims.

I couldn't believe this. I had known for years that the sheriff was a cruel man, but I had never thought him low enough to stoop to using the church to do his biding. I sighed. It just went to show you that men like him were cable of anything.

"That is way Robin Hood and his gang attacked the Abbot at Kirklees, that is way Hood sent his friend Tuck to brake into the Abbey and that is way Hood must burn at the stake!"

Tuck and Alan were making their way through the castle to leave when they were surrounded by guards. Alan quickly pushed Tuck away from the circle of guards. "Get the Bible to Robin!" I admired his bravery as he took on the guards alone. He was able to defend him several for a few minutes, but he was eventually over taken.

"Lock down the castle!" ordered one of the guards as a couple of the others held Alan. "Search every room!"

John poked his head around the corner of the Abbey where he and Robin were waiting. Much came running. "No sign of them." he said.

John sighed and looked at Robin. "There's no more time." said Robin. "I have to go in now."

"This is suicide, Robin." said John.

"There's no other way," said Robin. "We have to go in there and show we're not afraid, if we blink now, people will never believe in us again.

"I did give you an ultimatum, hm?" said the sheriff. "You remember?" he asked stopping to stand right next to Kate. "So, where is he, eh?" He wondered the room again. "Where's Robin Hood? I don't see him."

"Then open your eyes." Everyone gasped and heads turned to see Robin, bow drawn with John and Much on either side of him. The sheriff turned around as well.

"Oh, look." he said. "He's come to save the village. How noble." The sheriff held his arms out to his sides. He slow began walking down the aisle towards Robin. "What are you going to do, Hood? Hm? Are you going to kill me? Gonna shoot me? And risk bringing down the wrath of Prince John on Nottingham? Well, I don't think you really want that, do you?"

"No." said Robin and he lowered his bow. "No, I wouldn't." He looked at the sea of expectant faces and then began to walk forward, Much and John right behind him. "Because I love Nottingham. I love its people. And I want to see them free from your greed and your corruption."

Kate's eyes were pealed on Robin and there was a spark of admiration in them. I didn't blame her. I had never admitted to Robin, but he was quite an impressive figure and a passionate speaker. He meant every word that he said, and couldn't have been more proud of him.

"What about your greed?" asked the sheriff. "And your corruption, hm? You attacked the Abbey to try and steal the holy artifacts."

Robin shook his head. "I didn't. Nor did I tax these people until they bleed, until they had nothing more to give."

"Yes, but you did," said the sheriff waving a figure at him, "brake into the Abbey with the intention of stealing the hand of Saint Luke!" The people murmured.

"It's not the hand of Saint Luke!" said Robin as the sheriff went to the box and pulled out the hand again.

"Really?" the sheriff kissed it and placed it once more in the box. "And pray tell, whose hand is it?"

"Ask the Abbot." said Robin simply. I realized he was giving the Abbot the change to tell the truth, the chance to do the right thing. All eyes were now on the Abbot. His eyes looked down at the floor and I saw they were filled with shame. "Come on, Abbot." said Robin when he didn't speak. "Tell them."

"Yes, come on, Abbot." said the sheriff, turning on him. "Tell them."

"The truth is always the truth," said Robin, "you can't change that with an edict."

"Yes," said the sheriff, pointing to the people, "and they deserve to me told the truth."_ So says the man lying through his teeth to them._

"You tell them now," said Robin, addressing the Abbot, "and this is all over. If you say the relic is real, then three innocent men will die, but if you deny it, those people must be released from your edict."

The sheriff stepped over to the Abbot. "And your reputation will be ground into the dust." he whispered to him. "And nothing you say or do will ever have an authority ever again. You will be finished." He moved behind the Abbot and placed his hand on his shoulder. "Your choice." he said a little louder.

"And the choices we make," said Robin, "at these moments define us for eternity." I held my breath waiting for the Abbot to speak. It seemed everyone else in the Abbey was too.

"I decree," said the Abbot slowly, "by the holy power of the church that this is the hand of the evangelist Saint Luke." The people muttered and I could tell that was not what they had been hoping to hear. _No! _ I thought angrily. _This isn't right!_

"Tuck was wrong about you," said Robin shaking his head.

"Arrest those heretics!" ordered the sheriff, pointing at Robin, Much, and John. The latter two tried as best they could to fight off the approaching soldiers.

"Enough, enough!" Robin told them. "It's over, John."

"What? No!" John said desperately.

"It's over." repeated Robin.

Kate's eyes started to fill with tears as she sat helpless as Much put his hands in the air in a sign of surrender. _They'll be fine,_ I wanted to reassure her, _they'll escape...somehow. They always do._ Yet I didn't fell so sure myself. All it took was once...one failure and they were done for.

The Abbot stood in the castle, looking out the window out into the courtyard. Men were piling wood around the pier that usually was where hangings took place. A felt a lump rise in my throat at the sight of it. Robin and the rest of the gang were to burn.

"Your book," the Abbot turned to see Tuck, still dressed in his monk robes holding the translated Bible, "it's magnificent." _What are you doing Tuck? You were supposed to be getting the book to Robin. _"It just wonder if the world is quite ready for it."

"Tuck," said the Abbot, "this is no place for decent, educated men. Give me my book!" Instead of answering or complying with the Abbot, Tuck strode over to one of the torches.

"'If I give all I possess to the poor,'" he quoted, "'and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing!'" He held the book out as if to burn it.

"What are you going to do?" cried the Abbot suddenly fearful.

"Me? I'm going to burn this book."

"No!"

"Unless you save Robin Hood!"

"Tuck! Don't be a fool!"

"Yes, Tuck." said the sheriff coming up from behind him. Tuck turned to face him. "Book burning, that's my job." With him was the man I had seen earlier, the one who had looked like he enjoyed giving people pain. Guards with crossbows came and pointed them at Tuck. "Book? Please."

Tuck looked at the guards then reluctantly give the book to the sheriff who then gave it to the man. "I shall be holding onto that until Robin Hood and gang of maggots are reduced to ashes. Oh, stick him on the fire with the rest of them."

The guards hustled Tuck out of the castle and down to the courtyard. As he passed the Abbot he looked at him briefly and then was gone. The sheriff and the Abbot looked at each other, the Abbot with a look of grief and anguish on his face. "I win." said the sheriff, patting the Abbot on the shoulder.

"Burn them, burn them!" The cry of the crowd sounded horrible and almost impossible to my ears. _This can't be happening!_ The sheriff sat on a chair in the courtyard, a goblet in his hand as he waited for Robin and the rest of the gang to be brought out for their execution.

They were lead out, connected by a chain. Robin was in front, next came Alan, then John, Much, and then last Tuck. "Burn them, burn them!" The people continued to shout and throw fruit at them. The Abbot was reading aloud in Latin, but he was drowned out by the shouts of the crowd.

"Heretics! Devils!" cried Kate and to my shock and disbelief she ran forward, towards Robin. "I trust you!" And then her hand flew through the air and slapped Robin hard across the face. My hands clinched, anger flooded threw me.

"Kate! Please!" said Much as he was lead past her. "It isn't true!" He looked over at Robin and we were both surprised to see a smile on his face. He wasn't looking at Much. He was looking at Kate. She winked at him.

Then time seemed to repeat itself in a flash back as I saw Kate running towards Robin again. "I trusted you." and this time I saw that right after she slapped him, she handed him something. It was an arrowhead. My anger vanished and I understood. She had had to make it look like she was angry with him in order to sneak him the arrowhead. A sigh of relief escaped my lips. Robin and the gang were to going to make it through this.

Robin and the others were tried onto poled that were surrounded by the piles of wood waiting to be lit. He was trying to saw at the ropes that held him with the arrowhead. "For crime against the church," said the sheriff, "heretical and..." I couldn't hear anymore of what he said, I was too focused on Robin trying to free himself. It didn't looked he was getting anywhere.

"Come on, Robin." said Alan encouragingly.

"The rope's too thick." said Robin. "I can't get threw it." No sooner had he finished speaking than he lost his grip on the arrowhead and it fell.

"We're toast." said Much. I had to agree but I couldn't give up hope that something...anything would happen to free them. _Please, God, please! Don't let them die like this._

"Light the fire!" ordered the sheriff and the man came forward with a lit torch. John pulled against the ropes, trying to break them, but nothing happened.

"Wait!" surprisingly the order came from the sheriff himself, but I had no doubt that it did not entail any good. He was probably planning something bad. Kate looked at Robin as if willing him to break free, as if her thoughts alone could save him. "One moment."

The sheriff came down the steps. "Yes, he has offended the faithful, so the faithful must condemn him." My eyes narrowed at this. "The Abbot's right. It's the duty of every man, woman...child," he said turning to look at Maggie, "to destroy the heretic Robin Hood." I realized what he was getting at. _Oh, no._

He took Maggie by the arm and lead her over to the man with the torch. "Now," he said bending down to look at her, "to damn the heretic?" he asked and then added in a whisper. "Or be damned yourself, eh?" He stood back up and took the torch from the man. "Burn them." he offered the torch to Maggie. Several seconds passed in agonizing silence as Maggie didn't move to take the torch.

"Maggie," said Robin finally, addressing the little girl, "Maggie, it's alright. Just do it." With a last look at Robin, Maggie ran back to her mother. Her put her arms around her daughter and scowled at the sheriff.

"Very touching." said the sheriff, still holding the torch. "Very sweet." Hum to himself, he lit the wood. _No! _"Look! I'm burning them!" He chuckled to himself, but no one else was amused.

"Burn them!" he shouted, getting the chanting started again and the crowd followed suit. Only Kate and Rebecca didn't join in. The former stared at Robin and the others in horror and sorrow while the latter continued to watch the sheriff, a scowl still on her face.

The flames were getting bigger now and the smoke was starting to rise. Robin looked down at the arrowhead. Kate looked at Robin, no doubt wondering why he didn't free himself.

"Enough!" The people quieted as the Abbot strode forward. "People of Nottingham, you have been betrayed!"

"Stop him!" ordered the sheriff. The guards made to approach him, but the Abbot held out the silver cross he wore around his neck.

"Stay where you are or your souls will be damned forever!" he warned them. The guards froze in place.

Robin's ropes snapped. "You have been deceived," continued the Abbot. Robin bent down and grabbed the arrowhead. "That was not the hand of Saint Luke." Robin handed the arrowhead to Alan.

"It was a hand sacrilegiously disintured from a peasant's grave. It was meant to deceive you." The people just stared at him, the shock on their faces turning to anger. "It was meant to control you." Kate looked at her mother, a smile on her face as if to say 'I told you so!'

"And I stand before you full of shame." said the Abbot. Robin handed the arrowhead to Much. He was back around the pole to make the sheriff thing he was still captive.

"Hurry up, Much." he whispered.

"This man is the true devil!" said the Abbot point at the sheriff. "He steals your hopes, he steals your souls. He is the spawn of Satan!"

The sheriff had had enough. "I warned you. I warned you!" He turned and grabbed the Bible from one of the guards.

"Is everyone ready?" Robin asked. The others all nodded.

"I warned you!" The crowd gasped as the sheriff threw the Bible on the fire.

"Now!" shouted Robin and the people cheered as they all jumped off the platform, away from the fire and began to run. A huge smile lit Kate's face.

"No!" cried the Abbot staring at the burning remains of the Bible. He reached down and tried to grab it.

Much stared at the roast pig he was turning. "I will never look at a pig on a spit the same way again." John patted him on the shoulder. Robin smiled.

He stood and raised his goblet in a toast. "To the Abbot."

"To the Abbot!" the others repeated and they all drank.

Meanwhile, somewhere in France, the Abbot sat a desk. He held a quill in one hand in the other was the the burnt remains of a piece of paper. "In the beginning..."

_Author's Note: So that's it for "Lost in Translation". Please review! "Sins of the Father" is up next!_


	19. SotF Ruthless Rufus

Much peaked around a corner in the market in Nottingham as a small wagon covered and driven by two guards and trailed by two more drove through the gate of the castle.

He looked back and nodded at Robin. "So...we're going to steal the sheriff's winter food store." Robin just nodded.

Much began to pace. "Feed the poor," he said, "from that wagon guarded by all those soldiers." He turned and looked at Robin. "How exactly?"

Robin grinned. "By making that wagon disappear." He winked.

The wagon passed by the tavern. Outside it, a man stood. A boy of about sixteen or seventeen was tending to a couple of horses. The man looked around. "Home, sweet home." he said just as the boy joined him. "So what do you think? You ready and willingly to help me on this one?" There was something about the man, it was mostly likely his tone of voice, that put me on edge. Whoever this man was, he was not to be trusted.

"Yes, Father." I stared intently at the boy. The feeling I had of distrust towards the father was absent in the son. While the former seemed hard and cold, the latter seemed soft and kind, but it looked as if he were trying to hide it. To be exactly like his father.

The boy turned and gestured to the owner of the tavern and ordered a jug of ale. His father stayed where he was and studied his surroundings.

He saw Robin speaking to a cloaked figure whose face was hidden from view. Robin walked away, unaware of the man's eyes following him. The hooded figure turned and gave some sort of signal to Alan and John who were on a nearby roof. The figure threw off the cloak, it was Tuck. Under it, he some sort of straw hat, attached to which was some black cloth, which he pulled down around his face. My curiosity peeked and I wondered how on earth Robin had planned to make the wagon disappear.

The man leaned on the side of the tavern watching Tuck with interest. Tuck shook something in his hand and opened what appeared to be a wooden box and a swarm of bees came flying out. I laughed and I suddenly understood Robin's plan.

Just as the wagon started to pass beneath them, Alan and John dropped a couple of jars of bright pink liquid onto the two guards at the front. Alan and John laughed as the swarm of bees came down on all four soldiers. The soldiers tried to slap the bees away and then just ended up abandoning the wagon.

Much hoped on the driver's seat and after swatting away a few remaining bees took the reigns and began to drive off. The man who had seen the whole thing, chuckled. Robin was walking behind the wagon, urging Much to go faster.

At this point he passed the man whose son had joined him. The man raised his goblet. "Not bad."

"Thank you." said Robin. He turned and together he and Much got the wagon to a remote corner of the market square. They were joined by the others who helped get the covering off, revealing loads of food. I smiled as the refitted the wagon with new wheels, new sides, making it a whole new wagon. To finish it off, they dumped a load of hay on top, covering the food. _Very good, Robin, very good!_

Robin now drove the wagon, a hood of his head, hiding his face. The guards at the gate leading out of Nottingham had him halt for a bit, but once the man was satisfied he now let Robin continue on. His plan had worked.

Once they were out of sight of the guards, the heads of John and Much popped out of the hay. Much had and apple in his mouth, which he promptly began to happily munch on.

Kate and Rebecca were hard at work making new clay jars, but they seemed to enjoy their work. That is until a voice shouted through the village. "Alright, everyone, listen up!" It was the man I had seen earlier. I frowned. What was he doing here?

"And listen well! You don't know me." His son was there as well, and so was the sheriff and his guards. "You don't know what I'm like." Kate and her mother left their work shop and as a crowd had already begun to gather in the village. "So, I'm going to give you a little example of what kind of tax collector I am." My frown turned into a look of disgust. A tax collector. I should have known. "And what happens when you don't pay up."

"We pay our taxes." said Kate to her mother. "We don't need his example." The man heard her and turned to face her.

"I think I'll be the one who decides that." He walked towards their little shop. "This yours?"

"Yes," said Kate.

"It's our lively hood." said Rebecca. The tax collector picked up a clay vase.

"Remember it fondly." He opened his hands and let the vase fall to the ground, breaking into pieces. "Edmund."

His son came up behind Rebecca and grabbed her, pinning her arms behind her back. "Let her go!" said Kate.

"I can't. Sorry." Their was something in Edmund's voice that told me he was telling the truth. He was sorry, sorry for whatever it was he was going to have to do.

Edmund's father threw another vase to the ground, then another. "Don't apologize, Edmund."

"I don't apologize." said Kate. "You're just hurting an innocent woman."

Edmund's father was now knocking off jars left and right. "Don't tell me! I've hurt!" he shouted, loud and clear for all the villagers to hear. "If you are weak, hope is pointless! The world is hard on the little people. You'd agree to that, wouldn't you, sheriff? The small exist to be stepped on?"

"There is a pleasing logic to what you say, yeah." agreed the sheriff watching the scene before him with obvious delight.

"It will take us months to put right!" said Rebecca in anguish.

"You don't say." said the man, now destroying the workshop itself. Kate stood by, fuming but unable to do anything. He turned and pushed on the wooden beams, sending it crashing into the furnace and starting a fire.

"You didn't need to do that!" said Kate. "You didn't have to destroy everything!"

"Kate, stop it!" said Rebecca.

"She's right." said the man, whose name I later learned was Rufus. "You want to keep your mouth shut."

"No," said Kate, "I really don't."

Rufus stared at her in silence for a few seconds. "I tell you what I'm going to do. Just this once, I'll play nice. I won't make you suffer for disrespecting me." He looked at Rebecca then back at Kate. "I'll make her suffer instead." He looked at Edmund. The boy reluctantly forced Rebecca to her knees. "You want her to live?"

"Yes." said Kate quietly.

"Then you come with me to Locksley Manor. You make me smile. You don't that, and I'll let your mother go. So, what's it going to be, little lady? Do we have a deal?"

Kate slowly nodded. "Yes."

"Don't take her please!" Rebecca begged as Rufus took Kate by the arm and started to lead her away. "Take me instead!"

Rufus ignored her. "So, sheriff, how was the show? You get a kick out of it?"

"Very good." said the sheriff. "You make Gisborne look all warm and snugly." Warm and snugly were normally not words I would choose to describe Guy, but in this instance I had to agree with the sheriff. Guy could be cruel, but he was a saint in comparison with Rufus.

"Good." said Rufus. "That's good." He turned and lead Kate back to Locksley Manor with him.

"I like him." said the sheriff.

_Author's Note: So there's the beginning of "Sins of the Father"._


	20. SotF Outlawed

"Did you see that man watching us earlier?" John asked Robin as they and Tuck and Alan unloaded the food and put it in their hidden store in the forest.

"With the kid?" asked Robin just to clarify.

"There's something familiar about him." said John thoughtfully. "It's like...I don't know."

"I saw smoke!" yelled Much running up. The others just stared at him blankly for a few seconds. "I think Locksley's on fire!"

They dropped the food and hurried after him, running with all speed towards the village.

Rufus was staying in Locksley Manor, the last place he deserved to be. The manor had once belonged to Robin, and while he hadn't lived in it for years, I still considered it his home, not Guy's.

"Nervous?" he asked. His eyes seemed to pierce Kate as she stood before the fire place. Edmund looked away, feeling uncomfortable as his father went up to the young woman. "I feel like some entertainment." He moved around her, studying her like a cat does a mouse. "Can you dance?"

"Dancing is pretty basic." said Kate, not even attempting to hide the loathing in her voice. "So, yeah, I think I can manage it."

"Very good. Edmund!" Rufus called to his son. "Sit. Watch the girl dance."

"I have to see to the horses." said Edmund, hurriedly leaving. Kate and Rufus watched him go and I could tell that she would have felt far more comfortable if he had stayed. I couldn't blame her. I had been in a similar position myself once and I understood exactly how she was feeling at this moment.

Rufus stared after him for a few seconds. Even though he was smiling, I could see his disappointment with his son in his eyes. He went and threw himself in a chair at a table. "Well? Dance then." He began to clap and Kate slowly began to move her feet to the beat. "And smile." Kate forced a smile unto her face, but it was fake and both of them knew it.

"We need more water!" shouted Robin as he dumped a bucket full onto the fire. He tossed the empty bucket to Tuck as John came running up, carrying two more buckets full. Robin took one. "John, who did this?"

"It was that man we saw earlier with his son. Robin, he's the new tax collector!"

"Eh?" asked Robin in surprise. "Where's Gisborne?" John shook his head.

"It's Kate!" shouted Much running up. "She need our help!" Robin turned and he and Much ran off in the direction of the manor leaving Allan and Tuck to help put out the fire while Rebecca stood, looking helplessly on.

Kate suddenly stopped and Rufus raised his eyebrows at her in a questioning look. "Well, I did what you wanted." she said, icily. "So, we all done now?"

"Oh, no." said Rufus, getting to his feet. He come over to her and backed away, until he had up against the walk. He ran his fingers through her hair. "No, no, no, no. We're not done yet."

Suddenly, Kate pulled out a knife and pressed in close to his chest. "You sure about that?" Just then the boards covering the window broke and Robin threw himself inside the manor. "Robin!"

"Robin Hood, I assume." said Rufus.

"We met again." said Robin, pulling an arrow from his quiver. "Lucky you." Then the other window's coverings burst and Much landed behind Kate and Rufus.

"Much!" said Kate. "What are you doing here?"

"Saving a damsel in distress!" he answered, pulling his sword from his sheath, but not taking his eyes off Rufus.

"I'm doing fine on my own!" Kate protested. Before anyone knew what was happening Rufus kicked the sword out of Much's hand and punched him in the face. As he turned back to face Robin, I noticed Edmund sneaking up behind Robin.

"You're wasting your time." said Rufus. "Why help the weak? Haven't you worked it out yet? Charity is pointless."

"Helping the innocent is never pointless." said Robin just as Edmund came up behind him and was about to hit him with a piece of wood. I was about to shout a warning, but Robin didn't need it. He turned, punched Edmund in the gut and then threw him to the ground in front of his father. Rufus grabbed Edmund and hauled him to his feet just as Robin aiming his arrow at him.

"Hurt my son again and you'll suffer for it!" threatened Rufus.

"Oh, who's going to make me suffer?" asked Robin. "You? A man who bullies young girls?" Robin shook his head. "No. You ask nicely, say please, and I won't kill you."

"You see," said Rufus, "my father was the kind of man who asked nicely and I saw him get kicked around for it." Kate and Much rushed over to Robin's side. "So I don't...ask nicely and I don't get kicked around. You can kill me, but I won't beg."

"The girl's coming with me." Robin told him.

"You can take her." said Rufus. "Her sweet face isn't worth this much trouble." Robin cautiously lowered his bow. "And one other thing," said Rufus, "I'll be telling my friend the sheriff who your new friends are." he said looking directly at Kate. "So you better keep your pretty face hidden from now on. You just made it on to Nottingham's most wanted list."

Kate started at him in horror and agony. "Come on." said Robin gently. The three of them turned and left.

"Some knights in shining armor you lot are." said Kate. "You sweep in and now I have to leave home."

"You were in trouble." said Much, holding his nose. "We were only trying to help."

"Do I really have to do this?" Kate asked Robin.

"Kate, he'll tell the sheriff and you'll be hunted. Alright? It's time to say goodbye."

I felt sorry for Kate. Yes, I had at one point given up the life I had known to live in the forest, but that had been voluntarily. Plus, I had had no family left when I did it. Here Kate was being forced to leave her family and her home to live in the forest, with a gang of men. In my case Djaq had been there, but in Kate's she would be the only girl. It was no wonder she was apprehensive.

"I won't be very far away." said Kate. She was kneeling and speaking to her little sister. "I promise. And I'll visit whenever I can." Maggie nodded, her eyes staring at her sister as tears started to form.

Kate looked up at her mother. "This isn't right." said Rebecca. She looked at Robin who was watching the scene with sympathy. "First you get my son killed, now you're taking my daughter."

"We'll look after her." said Robin, trying to assure her.

"Yeah, you'd better had." said Rebecca. "Cause if anything happens, I'm holding you responsible." Robin just nodded.

Kate kissed Maggie on the cheek then stood and embraced her mother. Both of them were on the verge of tears. Robin wished there was something he could do. Instead he just walked over to the others and patiently waited for Kate to join them.

* * *

She knelt and picked up her bag of the few belongs she could take with her. Without looking back, Kate left her village and started walking towards her new life.

_Author's Note: Review, review, review!_


	21. SotF Captives

"Why are you so angry we saved you, Kate?" asked Alan as they walked through the woods, heading towards the camp. "Seriously, what were you going to do? Stab the guy?" _Have some compassion, Alan! She's just been made an outlaw and she's had to leave her family behind._

"Well yeah, if I had to." Kate answered. "It wouldn't have been a great loss to the world."

"We helped you. We're giving you a bed for the night. Aren't slightly grateful?" asked Alan. I bit my lip. I knew Alan meant well, but this wasn't helping.

"Oh, I'm so grateful!" said Kate sarcastically. "Thank you for ruining everything. I can really see why you guys are so legendary."

"Aren't you sweet and charming." said Alan, also sarcastically.

Kate turned on him. "Aren't you full of yourself."

"Full of myself?" repeated Alan as Robin turned around to look at the two of them. "You've gone too far now, Kate. I'm wounded, my heart's broken." His tone showed otherwise.

"Well, I'm sure a drunken girl with no taste will make it better." said Kate. _Ouch! _ I grinned. _That is mean, Kate._ Alan smiled.

"Funny you should say that..." said Much, who had been walking behind Alan and overheard the entire conversation.

"You alright, Kate?" asked Robin. He alone seemed to understand that Kate's frustration was coming out in her words and that she wished to be left alone.

"I'm having the time of my life." she answered, obviously not meaning it and walked past Robin. Robin gave Alan a look that clearly meant "Knock it off, Alan."

"What?" asked Alan. Robin didn't answer, instead he just turned and followed after Kate. Much now walked in front of Alan.

"Did you hear that?" he asked.

"Which bit?" asked Alan. "Kate being sarcastic? Kate being ungrateful?"

"What she said about us. 'You guys are legendary'. Plural, referring to all of us, not just Robin. She may have turned me down, but she thinks I'm legendary."

Kate was sitting by herself when John joined her. "Homesick?" he asked. I smiled fondly at his image. John was like a father, one who cared for anyone in need. He always seemed to understand when people were suffering and he sympathized with him.

"No, it's fine." said Kate, but they both knew that wasn't true. "I can handle it. I'm not just some stupid girl."

"I know you're not." said John, as if the thought hadn't even crossed his mind, which I knew it hadn't. It was not like John to think like that.

"Maybe I'm a bit homesick." she admitted.

"It gets easier, being an outlaw." he told her. She hesitated, and I could tell she was getting ready to ask a question whose answer she dreaded.

"Do you ever get used to being apart from your family?"

"No." he said honestly. "You don't get used to that."

"That's what I thought." Kate sighed.

"Whatever happens, you're not on your own, Kate." She gave him a small smile, thankful for his sympathy and nodded.

"Sounds like a good plan." They looked up to see Tuck and Robin heading towards them. It was Tuck that had spoken.

"Yeah, and we need to leave now." They knelt was that they were at the same height as Kate and John. "I know what we're going to do." Robin said, speaking mainly to Kate.

"We're going to kidnap the tax collector." said Tuck. "To scare him silly."

"And get rid of him." Robin added. "For good." Kate smiled, the first real genuine smile I had seen her give.

"He took the bait." Rufus told Edmund and I wondered what they were talking about. "Stupid sheriff. By the time we're done that scum he will be crying like a baby." I suddenly understand that they were playing the sheriff! But why?

I didn't have time to think about all that this could imply when Rufus and Edmund entered the stables only to have it shut behind them. They turned to see Tuck, who just gave them a cheeky grin.

"Well, we just keep running into each other, eh?" said Robin as he appeared behind them. Rufus just smiled. "It must be fate." added Robin. Rufus drew his sword, but before he could even make a Alan who had been hiding above them was on the ground and had a bag over Rufus's head.

"Father!" cried Edmund, but he quickly found himself in John's grip. Rufus was quick, even with the bag over his head he managed to push Alan way from him and he swung his sword wildly through the air. Then Alan and Much both charged him and grabbed his arms and Much kicked him in the stomach, making Rufus drop the sword. "You can't do this!" said Edmund.

"Who's going to stop us?" Much asked. "You?" Instead of answering, Edmund just bent his head down and bit John's hand. The big man yelped in pain and instinctively pulled his hand away, freeing Edmund.

He took off running towards the stable door. "Guards! Help!" Kate side stepped him and tripped him, sending him sprawling on the ground. John and Tuck shared an impressed look.

"You heard him! There'll be guards on the way!" said Robin. "Come on!"

"Ready?" asked Robin, keeping one hand on the reigns of one of the horses, while the other was ready to throw open the stable doors. He threw open the door and smacked the horse on the rear sending it and a few others into the paths of the guards who had been sneaking up on the stable.

Robin, Tuck, John, and Much took on the guards while Alan dragged Rufus and Kate Edmund it the alley way. The others were quickly able to follow, but in a matter of seconds another group of guards and circled around, cutting them off from Alan and Kate, who were now surrounded by guards on both sides.

Robin and those with him did the best the could and they were able to hold off the guards, but Alan and Kate were out numbered.

In order to deal with the guards, Alan had to let go off Rufus, a mistake as it turned out. The man was no sooner free than he threw the bag off his head and had a knife to Kate's throat. "Thank you, little lady."

"Let me at them, Much!" bellowed John, trying to get past the guards blocking them in order to go help Alan and Kate.

"I'm trying, I'm trying!" shouted Much, as he fought two guards at once.

"I'll get the horses." said Edmund running off as Rufus turned around and hit Alan unconscious with the hilt of his sword. One of the guards grabbed Kate by the arm was began to drag her away.

"Kate!" Much shouted, only able to watch helplessly.

"Stop this!" said John, and he rammed a door next to them, breaking it down.

"They've got Kate!" Much protested as Tuck shoved him past the broken door.

"No time!" said Tuck.

"He's right." said Robin, following them. "This way! Quick!" They ran past a man, who in his surprise accidentally dumped flour all over them, and out side.

"Hello." said Robin, spotting Edmund struggling with a couple of horses.

"Robin.." said Tuck, who seemed to understand what Robin had in mind and agreed with him.

"Get him on the horse!" Robin ordered.

"Come here!" John approached the young man who looked suddenly frightened.

Rufus was walking with the guards who held both Kate and Alan captive when Robin and the others rode by...with Edmund. "Edmund!"

"Father!"

"Follow me!" Rufus ordered, grabbing a horse. I watched wondering what was to happen next. It looked like it was going to be close because now both sides had captives.

_Author's Note: Hmmm...this episode may end up having more chapters._


End file.
